NATIONAL JEWELER          11
S
ean Dunn is a leader, not a follower. 
He joined his parents in the family 
business in 1997 and since then has 
continued to implement initiatives 
at J.R. Dunn Jewelers that later were adopted 
industrywide, he says. 
He became one of the first indepen-
dent retailers with an e-commerce site 
when he launched JRDunn.com in 2005 
and now is one of a small but growing 
number of retailers and brands empha-
sizing diamond origin. 
Sean has taken the life lessons his 
parents taught him, and with his knowl-
edge and experience, transformed J.R. Dunn 
Jewelers into a modern retailer built by family for 
families. 
“I learned from both. I love diamonds. I love colored 
gemstones. I love all the same things that they loved. The innovative 
side of the business, that’s where my heart’s at now,” Sean says. 
Despite his passion for the business today, Sean didn’t know he 
was destined to be a second-generation jeweler right from the start. 
Like many teenagers 
in Florida, he was more 
focused on going to 
the beach to surf and 
fish. He started college 
with the aspiration of becoming a marine biologist. 
It wasn’t until his sophomore year at the Univer-
sity of Florida that he switched his major to 
business. When he graduated in 1996, his 
father gently guided him into enrolling at 
the Gemological Institute of America, 
which was in Santa Monica, California, 
at the time.
“He said, ‘Why don’t you take your 
surfboard and drive to California? Go 
enroll, get your gemology [diploma], see 
if you like this business,’” Sean recalls.  
With his surfboard in the car, Sean and 
a friend from college headed across the 
country to Southern California. 
“Of course, getting a chance to surf Malibu 
when I could was the fun part,” he says. 
“I did that and I fell in love with everything about gemol-
ogy. I enjoyed diamond grading but most of all, I enjoyed gemstone 
identification, which was the most challenging. It was a remarkable 
experience meeting everybody from all around the world who was 
there to learn this cool business.”
After earning his Graduate Gemologist diploma, Sean went on 
to work in sales at the Ben Bridge Jeweler store in Costa Mesa, 
California, a retailer that shared the same commitment to ethics and 
integrity as his parents.
“When I went to Ben Bridge, I learned about selling the company 
Above, Ann Marie and 
Jim Dunn outside their 
first jewelry store, House 
of Gems, in Hanover, 
Massachusetts. 
At right, the Dunns inside 
J.R. Dunn Jewelers’ first 
showroom in Lighthouse 
Point, Florida.
2026
Retailer
HALL OF FAME

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