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New York, NY--Rebecca Foerster, president of ALROSA U.S.A., submitted her resignation to the Russian diamond mining and marketing company on Wednesday, effective immediately, according to a well-placed source. In addition, Alrosa’s U.S. office at the Gem Tower in the New York Diamond District will close on April 30.  

According to the source there are business and personal reasons for her decision to resign and of course it is related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In particular, it’s the result of President Biden’s executive order on Friday banning a number of imports from Russia, including non-industrial diamonds, in response to the Ukrainian crisis. This action halted all of Alrosa’s diamond business in the U.S. Being a U.S. citizen also played into her decision, according to the source.

There had to be no way of knowing that this was going to happen when Foerster and her three full-time employees moved into the larger offices in Gem Tower just three months ago. 

A week earlier, because of the Ukrainian crisis, Foerster resigned as president and board member of Diamonds Do Good, a not-for-profit organization that supports natural diamond communities across the world. 

Foerster, a longtime diamond industry executive, became president of ALROSA U.S.A. in January 2019, leading the business in the largest diamond market in the world.