Standard Chartered’s Anna Martin goes to GIA

Carlsbad, Calif.--The Gemological Institute of America has hired longtime industry leader and Standard Chartered Bank executive Anna Martin as its new senior vice president of global development.

Martin is slated to start her new job with the GIA on Sept. 2, working out of the organization’s New York office.
 
She joins the GIA after decades on the banking side of the jewelry industry, first with ABN Amro and then, beginning in 2008, at Standard Chartered Bank where she was the
managing director and head of global marketing for diamonds and jewelry.

As the GIA’s senior vice president of global development, she will be responsible for broadening the organization’s relationships with clients and stakeholders and overseeing its beneficiation efforts.

One of the most well-known and respected figures in the jewelry industry, Martin was on the GIA Board of Governors from 1997 to 2011 and has won numerous awards throughout her career.

She also serves on the boards of many industry organizations, including the Diamond Empowerment Fund, which supports programs around the world that benefit the people and communities where the diamond industry operates.

GIA President and CEO Susan Jacques said in a statement announcing Martin’s hire that she will help the organization as it aims to deepen its research program, add laboratory capacity and bring gemological education to more people around the world.

Martin said, “I am very excited to join GIA to help build on its history of excellence in research, education and laboratory services. There are so many opportunities for the gem and jewelry industry to do good in the world; I look forward to working with my new colleagues at GIA to seize these opportunities.”

Martin’s is the second high-profile addition in the area of beneficiation for the GIA in recent months. In May, the organization hired Brad Brooks-Rubin, the former special advisor on conflict diamonds with the U.S. State Department, as its global director of development and beneficiation, a new role within the organization.

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The GIA also said Thursday that it has hired a new chief human resources officer, Rohit Tandon. Tandon joins the GIA from the nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation, where he oversaw programs in 34 countries that treated more than 30,000 patients. 

He will be based at the GIA headquarters in Carlsbad beginning Aug. 18. 

In addition, a number of  key senior GIA executives were promoted: Chief Learning Officer Bev Hori, Chief Marketing Officer Kathryn Kimmel and Chief Financial Officer David Tearle have been named senior vice presidents. 

Corporate counsel Jennifer Wilson also was promoted to vice president and elected corporate secretary at the organization’s Board of Governors meeting in May.