GIA Seats Two New Governors in May Board Meeting

CARLSBAD, Calif. – May 19, 2009 – The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) welcomed two new members to its Board of Governors at the first of the Institute’s two Board meetings to be held this year. Both 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. One individual has been in charge of business operations for a large academic operation, and the other serves as legal counsel for companies poised for growth. These are two excellent matches for GIA today.”

Steven W. Relyea is the vice chancellor for Business Affairs at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He oversees business operations for a research university with an annual operating budget of more than $2.4 billion, 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 was named the “Distinguished Business Officer of the Year” by the National Association of College and University Business Officers in 2004. His efforts lead UCSD to become the first university inducted into the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame, a prestigious international award for strategy execution. Relyea and his management team are the recipients of the USA TODAY Quality Cup Award.

Relyea received his bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in business administration at the University of California, Irvine.

The second new governor is Paul E. Kreutz, attorney-at-law. Kreutz started his practice in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1967 with the law firm of Cooley Godward, and joined the Palo Alto firm of Ware & Freidenrich, one of Silicon Valley’s pre-eminent law firms, in 1969.

Kreutz has focused 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. He has also acted as legal counsel for many of the Bay Area’s pre-eminent venture capital firms, including Sequoia Capital’s investment in Cisco Systems and TA Associates investment in BMC Software.

Kreutz relocated to Southern California in 1994 when Ware & Freidenrich joined San Diego’s Gray Cary (now known as DLA Piper). He helped build the combined firm’s emerging company practice and as a senior partner represented Enterprise Partners, Forward Ventures and many other Southern California venture capital firms. He became “Of Counsel” in 2004, and in 2007, launched a solo practice that offers emerging Southern California companies the mentoring, strategic legal counseling skills, and financial networking connections he has acquired in his many years of practice.

Kreutz received his bachelor’s degree (cum laude) from Yale University in 1964, and his bachelor of laws from Stanford Law School in 1967.

“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.”