Supplier BulletinJul 03, 2025
Protect Your Customers and Your BusinessSponsored by the Gemological Institute of America
SourcingFeb 17, 2016
Ex-Rio Tinto Chief Tapped to Lead the DPA
Jean-Marc Lieberherr, who just left his position as managing director of Rio Tinto’s diamond business, is now the CEO of the Diamond Producers Association.
London--The Diamond Producers Association, the group formed by the world’s biggest diamond miners to buoy demand and consumer confidence, has shuffled its senior management and named its first CEO.
The DPA formally announced Monday that Jean-Marc Lieberherr, who was DPA chairman until he left Rio Tinto in January, will lead the DPA as CEO, which is a full-time salaried position within the organization.
Lieberherr spent a total of 10 years with Rio Tinto, the last three heading its diamond mining business as managing director.
Meanwhile Stephen Lussier, who is executive vice president of marketing at De Beers, moves into the chairman role, with Jim Pounds sliding into Lussier’s former spot as vice chairman. Pounds is the executive vice president of diamonds for Dominion Diamond Corp., which mines diamonds at the Diavik and Ekati mines in Canada.
These are not full-time salaried positions.
RELATED CONTENT: The DPA and the potential to LoveDiamonds
Launched in June, the DPA’s objectives include maintaining and enhancing consumer confidence in mined diamonds, providing the industry with data--it already released the results of one survey about millennials buying diamond jewelry for the holidays--and communicating the role and contribution of diamond mining companies.
Sally Morrison, who spent more than eight years marketing diamonds under the De Beers account at JWT, is the organization’s managing director of marketing.
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