GRS Celebrates 30 Years with Its Most Ambitious Team in History
As GRS celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2026, we announce the single largest investment in talent in our history — new strategic appointments across New York, Hong Kong, Switzerland and beyond, backed by advanced AI technology and a newly opened museum in Meggen.
A New Chapter Begins
2026 marks a defining moment for GRS — a year of comprehensive strategic appointments, bold promotions, and decisive investments that together represent the most ambitious chapter in our 30-year history.
None of this would have been possible without the steady guidance of our Verwaltungsrat—our Academic and Legal Governance Board comprising distinguished professors from four Swiss universities, including a former Vice President for Research at ETH Zurich. Their oversight, combined with Peretti family governance and our corporate legal team, has been the backbone of the trust our certificates carry worldwide.
We are proud to present our museum in Meggen, opened in early 2026, celebrating our history and showcasing the famous mineral Perettiite-(Y), holotype specimens, and rare amber inclusions documenting millions of years of natural history.
Strategic Appointments
Prof. Dr. Michael S. Engel, FLS, FRES — University Distinguished Professor, Guggenheim Fellow, 1,050+ peer-reviewed publications — joins as Director of DRADIPE (USA) in New York and Distinguished Curator of the Peretti Museum Foundation, bridging geology, paleontology, and field research worldwide.
Branko Deljanin, G.G., FGA, DUG — world authority on natural, treated, and synthetic diamond identification since 1999 — joins as Director of the GRS Diamond Department and will install a new fancy diamond testing laboratory in Hong Kong.
Michael Aston, Dip. Gem. (GAA) — A field maverick with 30+ years of mine-to-market experience across six continents — joins as Head of Field Research, reporting directly to Dr. Peretti.
Dr. Elias D. Kempf joins as Local Manager of GRS Meggen (March 2026). ETH Zurich graduate, PhD University of Bern — his doctoral research on Alpine serpentinite metamorphism directly continues Dr. Peretti's own foundational work at ETH.
Promotions & Continuity
Kama Moon, with 27 years of experience in the gemstone industry and five years of dedicated service at GRS Lab USA, is promoted to Manager of GRS USA in New York.
Michele Cheung is promoted to Managing Director of GRS Hong Kong, assuming full operational responsibility for our critical Asian hub.
Claudio Alessandri, FGA, was promoted to Chief Gemologist of Switzerland.
Warren Serrie, G.G. (Chief Gemologist, Paris, 10+ years of GRS experience), contributes hands-on expertise to European operations.
New Technologies and AI
Building on an unrivaled reference collection — a true "gold mine" of 30 years of data — GRS is deploying advanced X-ray imaging and AI systems in 2026. Dr. Peretti is personally developing an AI application encoding his lifetime knowledge of country-of-origin determination, making this expertise accessible to all chief gemologists worldwide for the first time.
"The arrival of artificial intelligence coincided with the zenith of experience and vastness of our databank reference material. Our 30-year birthday is not looking back — it is actually the definition of a gold mine, looking forward."
— Dr. Adolf Peretti, Chairman, President & Delegate of the Board
GRS at 30: By the Numbers
1,050+ Publications
6 Continents
30 Years
1,096 New Species
~20,000 Specimens
~50 Staff Worldwide