The Bell Group CEO Andrea Hill has resigned, and the company has dropped its public relations consultant.

The Bell Group owns Rio Grande Wholesale Jewelers, an international jewelry-industry supplier founded by Saul Bell in Albuquerque in 1944.

Hill recently left the Albuquerque company, which employs about 500 on the city's Westside, after 10 years to form Hill Management Consulting in Chicago.

The Bell Group hired Albuquerque PR consultant Art Christensen two years ago to gain industry exposure and attract new employees, Christensen says.

"It looks like they go through cycles," he says. "Andrea was the first real person [recruited to the board] from outside the [Bell family]. I guess they tried a cycle of high visibility and now they're going into a cycle of low visibility. ... They're doing well. It's a not a money thing."

The company reportedly is not seeking a new CEO, and operations continue to be run by a six member board of directors, which includes four Bell family members, according to the company's Web site.