GIA’s Tom Moses to Step Down in May After Nearly 50 Years

Tom Moses will step down from his role as executive vice president and chief laboratory and research officer at the Gemological Institute of America in May, ending a career that began in 1976 at GIA’s Santa Monica laboratory. GIA said Moses will remain through May to work with research and laboratory teams and that the institute and Moses “have been preparing [for this transition] for the last few years.” To honor his work, he will be named Chief of Gemological Research, Emeritus.

Pritesh Patel, GIA president and CEO, framed the departure as the close of a defining chapter for the institute: “50 years is not simply a measure of time—for GIA, it has been a period of remarkable growth driven by Tom’s commitment, curiosity, and leadership. His lasting legacy lives in the standards he helped shape and the generations of professionals he guided and inspired.”

Moses reflected on his mentors and on research as the throughline of his career: “I have been extremely privileged to work with the two greatest gemmologists and have them as my mentors. I will always be grateful to Richard Liddicoat for hiring me and for his selfless guidance, and to Robert Crowningshield, with whom I worked closely for 20 years, for sharing his extraordinary knowledge and for his friendship. There is no better way to honour their legacy than through continued research that advances our understanding of Earth’s treasures.”

His career milestones are concrete: Moses earned his Graduate Gemologist diploma and joined GIA in 1976, later moved to New York City to work under Robert Crowningshield, and during his tenure co-authored more than 100 technical articles for Gems & Gemology and other peer-reviewed journals. He received GIA’s Richard T. Liddicoat Award for Distinguished Achievement in 2002 and was elected to the GIA Board of Governors in 2013, a board seat he will vacate upon his departure.

Industry accounts credit Moses with driving GIA’s international expansion into a network described as 10 laboratories and seven schools in 10 countries and with helping to codify the grading standards used globally. GIA said there are “no plans” to replace Moses, and the institute bolstered laboratory leadership when it appointed Sriram “Ram” Natarajan senior vice president of laboratory operations last August, a move presented as part of transition planning.

A small, immediate industry reaction arrived on social media, where Julius Zheng wrote, “I have seen Mr. Moses in so many trade shows over so many years. Salute!” Moses will spend the coming months supporting client-facing work and research handovers; how GIA distributes his operational responsibilities and sustains the research output he championed will shape the institute’s direction after his May departure.