Dallas jewelry executive Beryl Raff figured that going to work for Warren Buffett would be an unusual gig. But after spending last weekend in Omaha at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s annual meeting, Raff feels like an adopted member of his extended family.
Last month, Buffett hired her away from J.C. Penney Co., where she was executive vice president of fine jewelry, to head Kansas City, Mo.-based Helzberg Diamond Shops Inc., a 94-year-old chain of nearly 270 jewelry stores owned by Berkshire Hathaway.
Her trip to the three-day corporate fete was her first official encounter with all things Berkshire.
She felt the energy of 35,000 people converging on the Nebraska city of 433,000. She hosted a dinner for the Helzberg team. She gawked at acres of "spectacular buys" under one roof at the Nebraska Furniture Mart and thought about throwing out all her stuff and starting over.
She met Bill Gates.
"There were so many moments when I pinched myself and thought, 'Is this real?' " says Raff, who, for the time being, is keeping her home in Dallas and commuting to Kansas City. "I asked my husband, 'Do you believe we're so fortunate to be part of this whole thing?' It really felt like a family to me."
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