GIA inducted Thomas M. Moses and Elliot Tannenbaum as Members of the GIA Board of Governors during the board’s November 2013 meeting in Carlsbad. Moses and Tannenbaum join the 16 other governors in directing the strategy of the Institute and serving as stewards of the public interest.Moses was also named executive vice president and chief laboratory and research officer for GIA. Elliot Tannenbaum is senior principal of Leo Schachter Diamond Group (LS Group).
“Elliot Tannenbaum’s exemplary record of leadership as a global diamond executive complements our diverse board. His passion for the gem and jewelry industry, his charitable contributions, and his global business sensibilities will be instrumental in helping fulfill GIA’s mission of serving the public trust,” said board chair John Green, president and CEO of Lux Bond & Green jewelers. “The addition of Tom Moses, considered one of the leading gemologists of our generation, reinforces the importance of gemological research and GIA’s laboratory services to our public benefit mission.”
“On behalf of more than 2,000 GIA staff worldwide, I am pleased to welcome Tom and Elliot to the Board of Governors,” said Susan M. Jacques, GIA’s recently announced president and CEO. “I couldn’t be happier with the addition of their experience and wisdom to this wonderfully talented group of governors.”
Moses has been instrumental in the Institute’s groundbreaking gem identification and research effort. He earned his Graduate Gemologist (GG) diploma from GIA in 1976 and began his career at the GIA laboratory in Santa Monica, Calif., in 1977. In 1986, he joined GIA’s New York laboratory, working with G. Robert Crowningshield, one of the world’s most revered gemologists. Moses was appointed vice president of identification services in 1988; vice president of identification and research services in 2003; and senior vice president of laboratory and research in 2005.
Tannenbaum is an experienced executive with deep knowledge of the global gem and jewelry industry. He has directed and managed every aspect of the Leo Schachter Diamond Group’s integrated businesses since 1974, guiding its three-decade journey from a U.S.-based family business to a global enterprise based in Israel. He is also very active in community and charitable organizations and serves on the board of the Jewelers Charity Fund for Children, the Diamond Empowerment Fund, the Israel Diamond Manufacturers Association and the Permanent Board of Governors of Bar Ilan University in Israel.
The appontment of Jacques, the previous chair of the board of governors, as GIA's president and CEO effective Jan. 1, 2014, was announced in October, along with the appointment of long-time governor John Green as chair of the board.