Rapaport held its 6th Fair Trade Conference at the Baselworld 2010 show:

View Images from the Conference


Martin Rapaport
Chairman and CEO, The Rapaport Group of Companies

Martin Rapaport began his career in the diamond industry in 1975 as an apprentice diamond cleaver in Antwerp Belgium. In 1978, he established the Rapaport Diamond Report, the primary source of diamond price and market information. In 1980, he created RapNet – The Rapaport Network, the first and world’s largest electronic diamond trading network. RapNet currently provides daily diamond listings of 620,000 diamonds worth over $4 billion dollars. It has 4,500 members of the diamond trade in 83 countries. Martin Rapaport is a leading diamond expert, lecturer and active public policy advocate who values open and competitive diamond markets. Rapaport Group activities include providing information, research and marketing services, as well as global diamond trading and tender services. The Rapaport Group is a primary advocate of free, fair, efficient and competitive diamond markets. Martin Rapaport played an integral part in the establishment of the Kimberley Process and the World Diamond Council. He is a strong advocate of diamonds for development, an ethical diamond trade, and the establishment of a Fair Trade Jewelry sector that will improve the lives of millions of impoverished artisanal diggers, diamond cutters and jewelry makers. Martin Rapaport has also founded the Fair Trade Diamond and Jewelry Association to help establish fair practices for artisanal miners in Africa.



Damien Cody
Director, Cody Opal

View Damien Cody's Presentation,
"A Practical Way to Introduce a Worldwide Jewellery Ethical Trade System"

As a young student Damien developed a passion for gemstones. He collected rocks, fossils and minerals from around Australia and cut opal in his spare time. After completing a Diploma in Business studies he worked in the Insurance and Financial Services sectors where he held senior executive positions with a number of leading international organizations. He was a founding Fellow of the Australian Sales Institute. His passion eventually led him to the opal industry where he is a Director of Cody Opal (Australia), a leading Australian opal exporting company. He is also Managing Director of The National Opal Collection, a company which operates retail opal stores and museums in Australia. The National Opal Collection was featured in a 12 month exhibition at the GIA in America and the exhibition is currently touring Japan. His companies have won Government Export and Tourism Awards for excellence in these fields. He has held various positions with the ICA including Executive Ambassador to the Board and member of various ICA Committees. Damien is serving his third term as ICA Ambassador to Australia.



Jean Claude Michelou
President, Imperial Colors Resources Corp

View Jean Claude Michelou's Presentation,
"Colored Gemstones from Mine to Market: Ethical Trade and Mining"

Jean Claude Michelou, ICA'S Vice President has been active in Colombian emerald trading, cutting and export since 1977 and more recently as a consultant for USAID and the World Bank where he worked on the development of infrastructures and policies from mine to market for the gemstone industry of Pakistan. He is currently the Country consultant for the gemstone sector of the World Bank Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources Project in Nigeria. He is also working on the development of Fair and Ethical Trade and Mining Standards and certification models as well as Social responsibilities initiatives for Artisanal and Small Scale mining communities. He is the chairman of the ICA faire trade and Ethical Mining committee and his heading the GILC commission on the same subject He is also ICA’s Director of Communications and the Editor-in-Chief of ICA’s InColor magazine.



Patrick Schein
Board Member, Alliance for Responsible Mining

View Patrick Schein's Presentation, "Fairtrade and Fairmined Gold"
(Pictures credits: Felix Hruschka, Kike Arnal, Ronald de Hommel,
and Patrick Schein. Picture use is subject to ARM's authorization.)

Patrick Schein is a French entrepreneur, graduated in Finance/Marketing, and active in the precious metals industry for 30 years. He founded in 1992 a Precious Metal Trading Company operating its own refinery in Paris. His business activities brought him to be in contact with ASM networks around Africa and South America and since 2004 he is working on how to adapt Fair Trade Principles to Gold in order to increase the revenues of the small producers. He assisted the UNIDO (Global Mercury Program) as an expert, analyzing how fair trade Gold could alleviate poverty in the ASM sector and consulted also for a mid size French Guiana gold mine. Patrick is a member of the Executive Board of the Alliance of Responsible Mining and of the FAIRMINED and FAIRTRADE Gold Standard Committee. He is promoting the distribution of artisanal responsible mining gold to the jewelry industry.



Elisabetta Molina
Owner, Garavelli Aldo srl Jewelry

View Elisabetta Molina's Presentation, "Garavelli"

Garavelli is one of the oldest jewelry producers in Italy and was established in 1920. The Company’s Collection comprises classic and designed jewelry, made by skilled artisans with the geniality of a modern designer: they work with 18kt gold, diamonds and colored stones and create magnificent necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, brooches and watches. The emphasis is always on achieving the highest qualities in style, manufacturing, finishing and materials.



Dr. Gaetano Cavalieri
President of CIBJO, The World Jewelry Confederation

Dr. Gaetano Cavalieri has been president of CIBJO since March 2001. He was responsible in July 2006 for the organisation receiving “Special Consultative Status” with United Nations Economic and Social Council(ECOSOC). Dr. Cavalieri serves as president of the Italian Federation of Gold, Silver and Jewelry Wholesalers. He is a member of the International Executive Council of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), the Goldsmiths’ Company of London, the European Assay Association, and is chief financial officer of the World Diamond Council. Dr. Cavalieri today acts as a consultant to the Italian Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and to the European Economic Commission in the areas of harmonization of standards and value added tax (VAT) on gold. He has been delegate to World Trade Organization since 2000. Dr. Cavalieri’s wholesale jewellery company was established in Sicily nearly 200 years ago. In 1979 he received a Ph.D. in economics from Catania University in marketing and market research.



Michael Rae
CEO, Responsible Jewellery Council

Michael Rae is the Council for Responsible Jewellery Practice's Chief Executive Officer. Previously, Michael worked for almost 17 years with WWF (formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund), leading WWF's international work on mining. Michael led the WWF Mining Certification Evaluation Project and has been a member of several global mining and minerals initiatives, including the IUCN Working Group on Extractive Industry and Biodiversity and the IUCN/International Council on Mining and Metals Advisory Group and the Working Group for the GRI Mining and Metals Sector Supplement. Michael is a board member of the International Cyanide Management Institute. As CEO, Michael is responsible for the overall management and direction of the Council as well as acting as the Council's key spokesperson. Michael reports directly to the Board of the Council.



Elizabeth Umlas
Independent Consultant on Human Rights

Dr. Elizabeth Umlas is a Geneva-based independent researcher and consultant focusing on business and human rights issues. She is heading up the human rights-related work of SMART, a social venture that aims to construct a transparent route to market for responsibly-mined minerals and metals, delivering sustainable economic development to communities. Most recently Dr. Umlas served as lead consultant to the Global Reporting Initiative on a project to improve corporate reporting on human rights. She is a member of Amnesty-Switzerland’s Business Group and a co-founder of Sustainable Finance Geneva. From 2001 until 2007, she was senior research analyst for human rights at KLD Research & Analytics, Inc., a social investment research firm, where she coordinated research on the impact of public companies on human rights. She has also worked for Oxfam America and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Dr. Umlas has a PhD in political science from Yale University and is originally from Boston, Massachusetts.



Robin Smith
Founder, Host Universal

Robin has made a habit of transforming issues into solutions. In 1997 he created Host Universal to help realise potential for ethical organizations and so deliver social change. Working with Anita Roddick he developed the global ‘self-esteem’ strategy for Body Shop International, a strategy that famously challenged the ‘fashion waif’ stereotype and promoted ‘real women’. And, according to BSI, their most successful strategy to date. Working with Penny Newman, CEO Cafédirect, Robin created a groundbreaking collaboration that drove an unknown company, and its Fair Trade mission, into the mainstream - ‘The UK's favourite brand’ according to Millward Brown research. He also developed an impact strategy for Dale Vince, CEO Ecotricity, which delivered the GREEN UNION JACK, an icon to put Green Britain and renewable energy firmly on the map. Robin consults internationally and has developed strategy, identity and communications for Bob Chase, CEO SERRV; for William Foote, CEO Root Capital; for Jonathan Rosenthal, CEO OKé USA. Robin lead the global repositioning and identity project for Paul Myers, President, World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) to drive market access for producer groups the world over.



Assheton L. Stewart Carter PhD
Vice President Corporate Engagement, Pact Inc.

Dr. Stewart Carter is Vice President Corporate Community Engagement and on the executive team at Pact Inc., an international development agency operating in over 40 countries. He is building a practice to link market demand with ethical production of precious metals and gems. He is a co-founder of the SMART Initiative, a social venture which aims to enable transparent routes to market for responsibly mined minerals and metals. He works with jewellers, financial institutions, retailers and mining communities; artisanal, small, medium and large scale mining companies; and government agencies to unlock the potential of mining for human and economic development. Assheton Carter has dedicated the last 17 years to enabling business to be a catalyst for social transformation. He started his career as a stock broker in the City of London, and after a spell as an academic in the business schools of the Universities of Bath and Warwick, he moved to the US to lead the extractive industries practice at Conservation International. He has launched and led several initiatives engaging the oil, gas and mining industries, resulting in significant biodiversity conservation and the setting of standards for corporate best practice. He conceived and developed the first fully traceable line of gold and diamond jewellery, Love,Earth, sold at Wal-Mart Inc., and recently worked with Cartier to source gold directly from a socially entrepreneurial “positive impact” mining operation in Honduras. He has advised a wide range of standard setting associations on environmental and social aspects of mineral extraction, including the International Council of Mining and Metals, Responsible Jewelry Council, Association of Responsible Mining, the International Finance Corporation, Inter American Development Bank, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as well as many companies in the mining and energy sectors. Carter has also teamed with senior management at Fortune 500 brand companies to lead environmental strategy formulation including Disney, Royal Caribbean, Marriot, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club and United Airlines. Carter holds a first class honours degree in international business from the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, U.K., and a Ph.D. in Business Strategy and Sustainability in international mining sector from Bath University. He has written more than 25 articles and book chapters on the extractive industries and sustainable development. He sits on a number of non-profit boards and corporate advisory boards.









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