Executive Chairman Richard Baker will take over the role as rumors swirl that a bankruptcy filing is imminent for the troubled retailer.
WFDB Selects Board for New Diamond Trading Platform
The board for Get Diamonds, the platform launched to compete with RapNet, will have 12 members.
Antwerp, Belgium—The World Federation of Diamond Bourses has assembled a board of directors for Get Diamonds, the online diamond trading platform launched in response to the row over RapNet.
The board will be comprised of 12 members: five representatives from major diamond bourses, five dealers from various countries and two public representatives who are not diamond dealers.
Those appointed to positions so far are as follows.
-- Yoram Dvash, acting president of WFDB, ISDE president
-- Anoop Mehta, president of Bharat Diamond Bourse
-- Moshe Salem, president of Diamond Club West Coast in L.A.
-- Philippe Barsamian, president of the Federation of Belgian Diamond Bourses
-- Reuven Kaufman, president of Diamond Dealers Club NY
-- Ankit Shah, Ankit Gems Pvt. Ltd.
-- Lior Eshed, Eshed Diam Ltd.
-- Raj Mehta, Rosy Blue NV
-- Simit Satish Parikh, Sim Gems Ltd.
-- Yaron Turgeman, Taly Diamonds LLC
WFDB said the two public representatives will be selected shortly.
The federation launched Get Diamonds this spring after hundreds of dealers pulled their goods off RapNet after Martin Rapaport dropped prices.
It’s based on the platform of the same name created by the Israeli Diamond Institute.
WFDB purchased the platform earlier this month and upgraded it, aiming to make it a direct competitor to RapNet.
“We have come some way in formalizing the operations of the Get Diamonds platform, but we still have some way to go before it is completely on the track we would like it to be on,” Dvash said in a statement.
“One of the key tasks facing us in the near future is to open a nonprofit subsidiary. I am confident that the company set up ‘for the industry, by the industry’ will work with transparency, fairness and objectivity in managing this extremely significant and crucial platform for the diamond industry.”
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