Heritage Auctions has announced the expansion of its New York staff with the hiring of Aviva Lehmann as Director of American Art, New York, Kate Waterman, Director of Jewelry, New York and Alex Miller, Comics Consignment Director.

“Heritage saw an opportunity to bring on top level talent in crucial categories while expanding our presence in New York,” said Greg Rohan, President of Heritage Auctions. “Aviva, Kate and Alex are, respectively, at the top of their fields and we’re thrilled to bring them on board.”

Aviva Lehmann, a graduate of Yeshiva University, comes to Heritage with 14 years in the auction industry and more than 10 years of specific, in-depth experience in American Art. Her broad knowledge and wide interest in every aspect of the field has made her a well-known name in the business, as has her previous position as Vice President, Specialist in the American Art department at Christie’s, While there she was instrumental in establishing dozens of auction records in virtually every category of American Art, fully doubling the value of the company’s sales in the category in its mid-season auction in 2004-06. Additionally, she has lectured on American Art at museums and institutions throughout the country.

Kate Waterhouse, a graduate of Elizabethtown College with a BA in Museum Studies and the Studio Arts with a concentration in sculpture, also attended the Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London where she worked toward her Master’s in Art Business with a concentration in auction house management and operation. While in the Sotheby’s program, she worked at Bonham’s Auctioneers in London before moving back to the states in 2006 to work as a Fine Jewelry specialist at Freeman’s Auctioneers, later being promoted to Head of Department and Vice President in the spring of 2011. She earned her A.J.P. from the Gemological Institute of America and is currently working toward finishing her Graduate Gemology degree. Waterhouse joined the jewelry appraisal team on PBS’ Antiques Roadshow in spring of 2010, the same year she became a member of the American Society of Jewelry Historians.

Alex Miller, a longtime collector and veteran of the comics business turned his passion for comics into a full-time job by helping to open and manage the Sunnyvale, CA based comic shop ComicsConspiracy while in college earning his degree in Computer Science. He then spent 12 years as a Wall Street consultant in the fields of computer programming and project management until 2003, when he started an eBay business as an auctioneer specializing in Silver, Bronze and Copper Age key appearance comic books and classic cars from the 1960s and 1970s.