Pritesh Patel, president and chief executive officer of the Gemological Institute of America, is eyeing the future.
“In 2031, GIA turns 100 and my vision for our centennial is to lead a future-ready institute anchored in science, powered by technology and trusted by consumers globally,” Patel told WWD.
GIA, a nonprofit organization founded in 1931 by Robert Shipley, focuses on research, detecting treatments on stones, and providing grading reports on diamonds — natural and lab-grown — colored gemstones and pearls, so dealers, buyers and consumers know the quality of their stones.
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GIA developed the industry standards for grading diamonds — carat, cut, clarity and color — known as the four Cs. Last year, the group revised its system for evaluating lab-grown diamonds so they are assigned premium, standard or no-designation ratings based on several characteristics, instead of previously following the grading system for natural diamonds.
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The group has 10 gem identification and grading laboratories around the world providing grading reports that generate revenues; seven research laboratories, and seven schools worldwide. The majority of the clients are diamond manufacturers. The GIA employs more than 3,000 people in 10 countries, many with advanced degrees in geology, chemistry, physics and related fields.
Patel became the Carlsbad, Calif.-based GIA’s president and CEO in August after serving as senior vice president and chief operating officer since 2017. He joined the GIA in 2015 as chief information officer.
In the following Q&A, Patel discusses projects in the works, market conditions, trends, AI and what he likes most about his job.
WWD: How do you see GIA growing and strengthening?
P.P.: Research, education and innovation — that’s been the journey of GIA and its legacy and foundation. My goal and vision is to build on that incredible foundation of trust and we’re going to do that through research, innovation and education. GIA has done many things over its 90 years to create the brand and the trust…Part of the strategy [involves] new areas of service GIA can offer. We have focused a lot on loose gemstones, diamonds, color stones, pearls. The new frontier is going to be more in terms of jewelry services, identification of more color stone services, and educational services globally. There are multiple areas in our strategic roadmap to help us grow, but it’s all based on the foundation of science and education.
WWD: How are you expanding the education program?
P.P.: One of our earliest international schools was created in Taiwan in 1991. We recently redesigned the location. Similarly in London, another flagship school of GIA, we’re creating a larger location in the Canary Wharf area. And in New York, we’re expanding with more classrooms to offer graduate jeweler programs, for example, where people can learn about bench jewelers, manufacturing and design. Expanding our education program is one of the most important opportunities we have. Our education program has multiple aspects, in gemology, jewelry design, CAD, bench jeweler programs. We teach students on designing the jewelry, manufacturing the jewelry, and so on. Any student with a high school diploma is eligible. We’re accredited. We have seven campuses, two in the United States and five internationally. One of the big opportunities for our education program is due to AI, which is disrupting many different industries and careers. Today’s young generation is looking to enhance their skills, apply their creativity and apply their individualism. Vocational schools are becoming very popular with the younger generation, and GIA plays in that area, where we allow students to [explore] their creativity and individual expression.
WWD: How does AI enter into the growth strategy?
P.P.: Technology is a big part of the strategy. We started on a journey of AI in 2017 with our initial collaboration with IBM Research on [incorporating] AI and machine learning into our grading processes. AI plays an important role helping our graders. We have strategies in terms of automating part of the grading process. Ultimately humans make the final decisions on the grading, but AI plays a critical role augmenting those capabilities.
There are other areas where we utilize AI in terms of machine learning techniques to identify color stone origins, for example, or in education we’re looking at jewelry design using AI technology. There’s always generative AI, which will help us bring more knowledge and education to consumers to ensure their trust, which is our core mission.
WWD: How are current geopolitical crises and economic issues globally affecting the demand for diamonds?
P.P.: There’s a lot of uncertainties in the world today and they’re all impacting the gems and jewelry industry in many different ways. The diamond supply has been decreasing. Lots of mines are being closed, and the price of rough is getting impacted. There’s also been disruption because of the growth of laboratory-grown diamonds. On the consumer demand side, there’s a K-shape recovery where higher value net worth individuals continue to spend on jewelry. At the same time, we’re seeing consumers who are being more cautious about their discretionary spending…The greater China market is slow to recover from the pandemic. But the India market has become the second largest global market for gems and jewelry [next to the U.S.] It’s been growing at a very rapid pace, and there are lots of opportunities in that market.
WWD: So what happens in the consumer space affects GIA’s business?
P.P.: Yes. But we continue to support the consumer [with] our grading reports on diamonds as well as on colored stones. While we have seen some softness in diamonds due to the impact of laboratory-grown diamonds, we see opportunities emerging [with] colored stones as people look for more individuality and a different variety of jewelry. There is an expansion happening in colored stones.
WWD: Specifically, what kind of stones would you say?
P.P.: It’s across the board, though it always starts with rubies, sapphires and emeralds. Those are the three primaries, which probably cover 70 to 80 percent of GIA’s intake. But many other stones are becoming more popular with a generation that’s looking for different colors and things to mix and match with.
WWD: The Tracr platform is emerging. How’s that going?
P.P.: Traceability is becoming more and more important for consumers. They get to see the journey of a diamond in a storytelling way. They’re obviously interested in the country of origin, the communities that are served and how those people are impacted, where the manufacturing happens and who the curators of particular diamonds are.
WWD: To what extent has the Tracr platform been adopted?
P.P.: It’s still a smaller percentage [of diamonds] but it’s growing very rapidly, and I know there are millions of stones on the Tracr platform currently.
WWD: Can you explain how it works?
P.P.: When the rough is discovered it gets scanned by the producer (miner), this 3D scan of the diamond is uploaded to the platform to start the diamonds journey on Tracr. As the diamond moves from the producer to the manufacturer, a second scan is taken to which is also uploaded to the platform and compared to the original scan to check that it matches.
As it transforms from a rough (cut) to a polished diamond (brilliance) in a factory, key data gets captured and documented through an automated system. This data is uploaded against the diamonds original record, capturing the full, unique, journey. So it’s using multiple documentation, AI technology, and imaging technologies to give confidence that every interaction, up to the point when it (the diamond) comes to GIA, is captured and recorded.
WWD: What really excites you about your job?
P.P.: It’s an incredible opportunity and honor to be in this role, leading 3,000-plus employees around the world who are really passionate about what we do, which is to ensure consumer confidence. I’ve really enjoyed meeting our clients, the industry, and a lot of our alumni. We have 175,000 alumni around the world. I’m hearing these incredible stories, how GIA has transformed their lives and careers, how it helped them create new businesses.
Ultimately, I’m really passionate about leading an organization with an incredible legacy based in science and innovation as well as education, and at the same time building on the core foundation of the things we have — expanding the jewelry area, expanding education offerings, expanding in color stone markets. We launched a redesigned color gemstone report earlier this year, which has been very popular. So there’s a lot of exciting opportunities in front of us.