Annie Doresca Named CEO of Diamond Council of America

By Rob Bates | May 20, 2025

Annie Doresca, chief financial and operating officer of Jewelers of America (JA), has been selected as the next CEO and president of the Diamond Council of America (DCA), a New York City–based group that provides online education for sales associates.

Doresca will continue in her JA role after she takes over at the DCA on Jan 1, 2026. She currently serves as executive vice president of the DCA, which signed an affiliation agreement with JA in 2017.

She will succeed Terry Chandler, who has been DCA president and CEO since 2001 and plans to retire at the end of 2025.

Doresca tells JCK she hopes to take the group, which last year overhauled its educational materials, to the “next level.”

While the DCA has traditionally worked with mass merchants, Doresca wants “to present our courses to a larger range of retailers,” she says. “We do have some small and medium-sized retailers, and the feedback has been great. Our courses are very affordable—if you’re a member, they’re $125; if you’re a nonmember, it’s $200.”

She also hopes to increase awareness of the DCA, by putting out regular sales and business tips on its social media.

Doresca says she knows the Diamond Council name sometimes leads to “confusion” about the extent of its programs.

“We’re more than just diamonds,” she says. “We do beginning sales, advanced sales, gemstone sales, and jewelry sales.”

Doresca has been JA’s chief operating and financial officer since 2008. Before joining JA, she was a client manager at BTQ Financial and manager of advisory services for the Nonprofit Finance Fund.

She was the founding president of the Black in Jewelry Coalition and serves on the boards of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, Jewelers’ Security Alliance, Jewelers Board of Trade, and Women’s Jewelry Association Foundation. Doresca is also a trustee for the Baldwin Union Free School Board District in Hempstead, N.Y.

Regarding her new appointment, she says: “What’s great is that Terry and I have worked together for five years. I have learned so much about DCA through Terry. He’s a legend and will still be in the role until the end of the year, and I look forward to continue learning from him.”

(Photo courtesy of the DCA)