GREENVILLE, S.C., Dec. 21, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SCIO Diamond Technology Corporation (OTCBB:SCIO.OB) – SCIO Diamond Technology is pleased to announce today the addition of Theodorus Strous, Senior Advisor of Diamond Asset Advisors, to its Board of Directors as its first non-executive member. Theo will begin his tenure immediately and brings to the board more than 20 years of diamond industry experience at the highest levels.
As Managing Director and a member of the Executive Committee of the Antwerp Diamond Bank until 2010, Theo was responsible for many aspects of the ADB, including strategy and management of the home market, international division, and product development for the bank. Prior to the ADB, Theo ran a diamond industry consultancy. As an executive with ABN Amro and ABN Amro Bank in the Antwerp Diamond Center, Mr. Strous held numerous management positions from 1988 to 1997. From 1985 to 1988, Theo was employed by ABN Amro Bank to help salvage and restructure the bank's diamond credit portfolio, which was, at the time, one of the largest in the world. Through Theo's two-plus decades in the diamond industry, he has gained an invaluable understanding of managing the various facets of diamond company risks during periods of both prosperity and severe downturns. A graduate of the Universite' Libre de Bruxelles with a degree in economics, Mr. Strous also attended the Central State Jury in Brussels, Belgium. Theo began his banking career as a clerk with Generale Bank (Fortis today) and gained his first management experience at one of the investment and corporate branch offices.
Joseph D. Lancia, President and CEO of SCIO Diamond Technology, commented, "Having Theo join our Board as its first non-executive member solidifies our position in the lab-grown diamond space and confirms our place in the worldwide diamond market. His over twenty years of management experience will prove invaluable to us as the company continues to grow and flourish over time. The other members of the Board and management and I are thrilled that Theo has agreed to join us."
About SCIO Diamond Technology
SCIO Diamond employs a patent-protected chemical deposition process to produce high-quality, single-crystal diamonds in a controlled laboratory setting, with such diamonds referred to as "lab-grown" or cultivated diamonds. The diamonds have the identical chemical, physical and optical properties as any diamond found in the earth, and the company's highly controlled manufacturing process enables it to produce very high-quality, high-purity, high volume, single-crystal colorless, near colorless and fancy colored diamonds.
SCIO's technology permits it to produce lab-grown diamond in size, color, and quality combinations that are rare, if at all present in nature.