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Departments
Take Note
• Rio Tinto promoted Jean-Marc Lieberherr, the current chief commercial officer, to be the new managing director of its diamond business, effective September 1. The company is also consolidating its diamond mining operations under Kim Truter, the current managing director of Argyle diamond mine, who will become the chief operating officer of its diamond business. • De Beers appointed Nigel Simson as senior vice president of global sightholder sales. Simson, currently head of beneficiation at De Beers, replaces Mahiar Borhanjoo.• Stornoway Diamond Corporation appointed Hume Kyle to its board of directors. Kyle is the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Dundee Precious Metals Inc. • Brian Gavin Diamonds released the Brian Gavin Signature Cushion Cut Diamond with Hearts and Arrows. The diamond has 58 facets and a uniform girdle. • Jewelry-related robbery, burglary and theft is down in the U.S., according to the Jewelers’ Security Alliance’s (JSA) first-half preliminary crime report, with $7.2 million less in financial losses recorded for 2013. To date, 740 cases of crime resulting in $35.3 million in losses have occurred, down from 844 instances and $41.1 million at the same six-month point in 2012.• The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) issued the trademark “Diamond Symphonies” to Columbia Insurance Company Corporation of Omaha, Nebraska on July 30, 2013. The trademark, with registration number 4377520,applies to diamond jewelry, diamonds and diamond engagement rings, wedding rings and wedding bands. • India’s Office of The Trade Marks Registry approved the label “Bouquet” for diamond company Dimexon (Hong Kong) Ltd. The label “Bouquet” is used to describe jewelry, precious and semiprecious stones, diamonds, precious metals and their alloys and goods made of precious metals or their alloys. The Registry also assigned the trademark “Mangi Chand Bhandari Jewellers” to Mangi Chand Bhandari Jewellers of Jodhpur, India, a company name the manufacturer has been using since 1945. • M. Geller Ltd., a loose diamond wholesaler based in Chicago, has become an authorized distributor for Gemesis, the distributor of colorless and fancy color lab-created diamonds. The companies seek to create a heightened presence for lab-created diamonds. • Charles & Colvard Ltd. entered into a distribution agreement with Amazon.com to supply moissanite fine jewelry. Designed by Charles Winston, the Charles W. Moissanite Signature Collection on Amazon includes classic fashion jewelry pieces designed in 14-karat gold. • Firestone Diamonds announced that Stuart Brown will become CEO on December 1 when Tom Wilkes steps down. Brown, the former joint acting CEO and CFO of the De Beers Group, was also named as an executive director. • Jewelers of America (JA) elected Bill Farmer Jr., a partner at Farmer’s Jewelry in Lexington, Kentucky, as its new board chairman. He succeeds Georgie Gleim, president of Gleim the Jeweler. JA also hired Matthew Tratner as its director of membership sales. Tratner was the COO and a partner at GemsAround.com. • The Canadian Jewellers Association (CJA) appointed Yakup Tecimer as its new chairman of the board for the 2013 to 2014 term. Tecimer is the director of operations at Tecimer Jewellery Limited and most recently served as chair of CJA’s investment and audit committee. • CIBJO appointed three veteran jewelry industry executives to key positions in the organization’s “Sector B,” which covers jewelry distribution and “Sector C,” which covers jewelry manufacturing, technology and precious metals. Willie Hamilton, CEO of the Company of Master Jewellers (CMJ), was appointed executive vice president of Sector B. Simon Rainer, CEO of the British Jewellers’ Association (BJA) was appointed executive vice president of Sector C. Michael Rawlinson, CEO of the National Association of Goldsmiths (NAG), was appointed the third vice president of Sector B.• Scott Kay appointed David Minster as its CEO and a member of the brand’s board of advisors. Minster has more than 25 years in the luxury goods sector and was COO at David Yurman. • OGI Systems is entering the Indian market. It plans to open a showroom to demonstrate technological solutions and to launch new products specifically tailored to the needs of the local diamond industry.• Lazare Kaplan International Inc. (LKI) donated to The Five Rand Primary School in Namibia as part of its Lazare Ongoma Initiative and Hearts for Hope pendant. For each Hearts for Hope pendant sold from June 10 through December 31, 2013, the company will donate $110 to the Lazare Ongoma Initiative, created to improve education in Namibia.• For the first time, a Gemological Institute of America (GIA) student will receive the Dr. Geoffrey Smith Scholarship, which sponsors a student who previously participated in GIA’s Junior Gemologist Program. The GIA will also award three scholarships of up to $1,500 each to three U.S. veterans and two scholarships in honor of Richard T. Liddicoat, a former GIA president who is considered the father of modern gemology. The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory at the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) signed an agreement to provide four elementary schools in South Africa with Mandela Day Libraries.Prakash Mehta received the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Retail Jewelers Organization (RJO) for his dedication and commitment to the retail jewelry industry. Mehta, who founded Interings Inc. in New York, serves on the board of the Indian and Color Stone Association (IDCA). • Hari Krishna Exports Pvt. Ltd., the official supplier of CanadaMark and Forevermark diamonds, won a bronze Stevie Award in the category of Management Team of the Year. The winners were selected by more than 250 executives based on 3,300 nominations from organizations of all sizes and virtually every industry.• Candy Udell, president of London Jewelers, received the Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award at the 30th annual Women’s Jewelry Association (WJA) Awards for Excellence. Standard Chartered Bank was given the Corporate Hall of Fame Award and Darwin Copeman of Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company was honored with The Ben Kaiser Award. • The Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF) announced that Forevermark, JCK and Fred Meyer Jewelers are the recipients of its third annual Good Awards. The award ceremony is slated for January 9, 2014 in New York City.Article from the Rapaport Magazine - September 2013. To subscribe click here.
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