The elections took place at the organization’s recent annual general meeting.
The Responsible Jewellery Council recently held elections for its member forum representatives, selecting five new directors and re-electing one.
Each director will represent his respective sector of the jewelry and watch supply chain.
The appointments are as follows:
— Raj Kumar Jain from Gemstones Corporation, representing the Diamonds and Gemstones Traders, Cutters and Polishers forum;
— Ankur Goyal from MMTC-PAMP, representing the Precious Metals traders, refiners and hedgers forum;
— Arien Gessner from Richline Group and Roger Forman from the Marathon Company, representing the Jewellery Manufacturer and/or Wholesaler forum;
— Pravin Pattni from Minar Jewellers, representing the Jewellery Retailer forum;
— Rajesh Neelakanta from BVC Logistics, representing the Service Industries forum (Neelakanta was re-elected); and
— Edward Asscher from the World Diamon
While it elected new board members at its annual meeting, RJC remains without a permanent executive director following the exit of Iris Van der Veken in late March.
She resigned over the organization’s failure to take a strong stance regarding Russian diamonds and to suspend Alrosa’s membership in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A number of major players left the group as well, including Pandora, Richemont, Kering and Watches of Switzerland, though RJC confirmed that all the Richemont and Kering brands—a grouping that includes names like Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Boucheron—have returned.
