Lab-Grown Trade Group Appoints New President

The International Grown Diamond Association (IGDA) has named Joanna Park-Tonks as its president. She will succeed Dick Garard.

The founder of London-based lab-grown brand Chelsea Rocks, Park-Tonks will take over at IGDA on January 1, 2023, the trade organization said Tuesday. Louis Price, a board member at IGDA and chief operating officer of Chicago natural and lab-grown diamond wholesaler M. Geller, will serve as vice president.

While Park-Tonks is based in London — to which she has recently moved from Vienna, Austria — IGDA will continued to operate out of Morrisville, North Carolina. She will maintain her focus of building the lab-grown market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Garard, who instigated IGDA’s 2016 launch, will remain on the board alongside market consultant Marty Hurwitz of MVI Research.

Image: Joanna Park-Tonks. (Joanna Park-Tonks)