GIA, AGS Add New Board Members

By Rob Bates | November 16, 2022

Both the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and American Gem Society (AGS) recently added new members to their respective boards.

GIA has added two new governors, and appointed a chair and vice chair to its board.

The two new governors are Russell Mehta (pictured at top), managing director of Rosy Blue India, the large Indian diamond company; and Lake Dai, a technology expert and adjunct professor of applied artificial intelligence at Carnegie Mellon University.

Dai has also worked as a technology venture investor and senior executive leading the product, engineering, and business units at Alibaba and Yahoo! as well as several tech startups.

In addition, Lisa Locklear, senior vice president and chief financial officer at Avanir Pharmaceuticals and a governor since 2012, has been appointed GIA board chair. Stephen Kahler, senior adviser of strategic planning and business development for commercial refrigeration equipment manufacturer Everidge and a governor since 2016, has been named its vice chair.

Four governors are retiring from the board: Dione Kenyon, the past president and CEO of the Jewelers Board of Trade and a former board chair; Thomas Insley, chief financial officer of Dermata Therapeutics, and a former board vice chair; Barbara Sawrey, dean emerita and distinguished professor emerita at the University of California San Diego; and Elliot Tannenbaum, senior principal of Leo Schachter Diamond Group.

The American Gem Society (AGS) has appointed Sumit Dangi, global chief financial officer and treasurer at Jewelers Mutual Group (JM), to its board. He joined JM in 2020.

Dangi replaces director at large Jamie Luce, JM’s former executive vice president. Luce resigned from his board position in September when he left the industry. Dangi will be added to the AGS’s 2023 board slate for election in May 2023.