Steven W. Relyea and Paul E. Kreutz were welcomed by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) to its Board of Governors at the first of the two Board meetings of the Institute to be held this year. Both individuals were elected during the November 2008 meeting and their terms began on May 16. Donna Baker, GIA president and CEO, said, “We are fortunate these two gentlemen have agreed to join the GIA Board of Governors. We look forward to their participation in GIA’s governance and to benefitting from their expertise. These are two excellent matches for GIA today.”

Relyea is the vice chancellor for Business Affairs at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and overlooks business operations for a research university including financial services, human resources, facilities, information technology, telecommunications and housing. Relyea serves on the board of directors of the Better Business Bureau of San Diego and Internet 2. He has been accorded as “Distinguished Business Officer of the Year” by the National Association of College and University Business Officers in 2004 and has contributed to UCSD becoming the first university to be inducted into the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame. He and his team also won the USA TODAY Quality Cup Award.

Kreutz is an attorney-at-law, and focuses on emerging companies with an emphasis on counseling and structuring entrepreneurial enterprises poised for growth. He served as legal counsel for companies such as Adobe Systems, 3Com Corporation, Bay Networks, KLA Instruments, Ross Stores and McAfee Associates and had been elected as legal counsel for many of the Bay Area’s pre-eminent venture capital firms “With the addition of these two governors, the GIA Board stands at 19 dedicated members from across the globe,” Baker said. “We look forward to enjoying the benefits of their singular and combined energy, knowledge and wisdom for a long time to come.”