President Donna Baker Photo by Michael Justice

The start of the new year seems an appropriate time to reflect on all that we accomplished at GIA in 2007. Our top priority from the very start of 2007 was to improve customer service. I am proud of the progress we made across every area of the Institute, which in many ways is due to the unwavering commitment from the GIA staff.

We met or exceeded our targets for 2007 in several essential customer service areas, including decreasing turnaround times within our Laboratory Services (even as we experienced a significant gain in volume), restructuring our education programs and forging stronger ties with our alumni. We also set in motion a major initiative to raise public awareness about GIA as a trusted resource when purchasing diamonds and other precious gemstones.

I can assure you that customer service and satisfaction will continue to be our main focus for 2008 and beyond, but I'd like to share some highlights that I think made 2007 such a pivotal year for GIA:

Lab services and sites – Reducing our turnaround times for grading and identification services was our key focus. Overall, we cut turnaround times to 10 days or less, in many cases as little as less than five days for some services, all while meeting a double-digit percent gain in our intake. Streamlining our internal processes enabled us to attain these reductions, and made it possible to add new features and additional services to many of our reports. Look for further reductions in turnaround times throughout 2008.

On the global front, GIA heeded the call from our customers, trade leaders and government officials to widen our laboratory presence. Under the guidance of Tom Moses, senior vice president, GIA Laboratory and Research, we opened a new center in Hong Kong, expanded services in Bangkok, and will soon have our Johannesburg facility fully operational. We also extended our labs into the virtual world, with a new GIA online service, "My Laboratory," which makes it possible for customers to access their GIA Lab accounts and check the status of their stones on a secure, 24-hour system.

Education – Enhancing our educational programs and services was also an important area for us during 2007, and more updates are planned for 2008. GIA also joined a growing number of colleges and universities that work with Apple Inc. to deliver content to our students via podcasts and revamped our free-of-charge job search engine, the largest online employment database in the entire jewelry industry.

Our scholarship and alumni programs continued to grow, and 2008 will mark the first time we will award scholarships to international students. GIA's newly revitalized Alumni Association boasts more than 60,000 members, while new chapters – more than 24 in all – are starting all over the world, from Brazil to Greece to Indonesia. Thanks to our new electronic newsletter, alum.connect, everyone is keeping connected and informed.

Keeping the public informed – Educating the public when it comes to buying diamonds and gemstones is a fundamental responsibility for us as a public-benefit institution. We launched a national public awareness campaign for both print and online – a first for GIA – in late 2007. The campaign, "The Difference Between Wondering and Knowing," promotes GIA as a trusted resource with a level of expertise that is unique in our industry. It also includes a robust retailer support program, which provides retailers and their sales associates with the communication tools they need to better educate their customers. We're looking forward to following the progress of this campaign through 2008 and beyond, and to serving the growing number of people who will turn to GIA for guidance.

Looking ahead, I am confident that GIA is well positioned to make further strides in customer service, and will be able to keep up with the rapid pace of change throughout our industry. Our best guess is that we will continue to see areas of strong growth throughout several segments in 2008, despite macroeconomic pressures. We will continue to expand and improve our customer service in the U.S., while aggressively laying new groundwork to better serve international customers to promote our standards of integrity and excellence worldwide. This strategy will enable us to find even better ways to serve our loyal clients, and acknowledge new concentrations of wealth in areas such as India, China and the Middle East.

In conclusion, 2008 promises to be another exciting year both here and abroad, as our ongoing global expansion helps to keep GIA the pre-eminent authority in gemology well into the future. I am delighted to be part of this distinguished group, and look forward to working with each and every one of you to continue our traditions of excellence.