Rio Tinto Diamonds as 'Presenting Sponsor' at PLum Club Forum

The ‘Presenting Sponsor’ of The Plumb Club Forum has been chosen as Rio Tinto Diamonds, according to a press release. The company’s participation reiterates its image of being one of the prominent entities in the global diamond industry. As mentioned by Rebecca Foerster, U.S. Vice President, Rio Tinto Diamonds, the company currently sells around 25% by volume of the world’s natural diamonds.

The Forum has been slated for March 2-3 at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. The Plumb Club is made up with 46 leading manufacturers of the jewellery and diamond industry, with their total accountability being worth approximately US$8 billion in wholesale jewellery sales. This year the Forum of the Plum Club intends to focus on issues such as ethical practices and consumer confidence, which impact the diamond pipeline, says Ms. Foerster.

Prominent personalities of the trade will deliver talks:
-Michael Rae, CEO –Rio Tinto: ‘How to ensure an ethical jewellery supply chain’. Rio Tinto Diamonds is a founding member of the Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices.
-Sir Ken Robinson- innovation strategist: ‘How to unlock the hidden creativity of employees’
-Mitch Joel, Canada’s ‘Rock Star of digital marketing’ – ‘Demystify the new interactive Web’.
-Phil McCarty, Marketer - ‘Business-building plan utilising cause-related marketing’.
-George Simonton, designer and FIT professor, Glamour Fashion Editor-at-Large Suze Yalof Schwartz, and Swarovski’s Daniel Cohen: ‘Lessons to be learned from the fashion industry.’
-Martin Rapaport and Chaim Even-Zohar: ‘Commoditisation of diamonds and the revolutionary changes in the diamond pipeline’.
-Cecilia Gardner of JVC, Doug Hucker, AGTA, and JA’s Peggy Jo Donahue: ‘The Issues That Keep You Up at Night’.
-GIA : ‘Updates in gem and diamond treatments, synthetics and gem trends, along with hands-on gemological refresher sessions’.
-Carly Fiorina, former Chairman/CEO of Hewlett Packard, Diamond Commissioner of Namibia, Kennedy Hamutenya, best-selling business authors Seth Godin (Permission Marketing and Purple Cow) and Don Tapscott (Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything).

The Forum has lined up various industry leaders for the Forum including JCK Magazine, Gemological Institute of America, ABN AMRO Bank, HSBC Bank, American Gem Society, Antwerp Diamond Bank, Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices, Gem Certification and Appraisal Lab, GemEx Systems, Gemological Science International, IGI, JCK Events, Malca-Amit, Natural Colored Diamond Association, World Gemological Institute, and the World Gold Council. The by-invitation-only conference is being hosted by The Plumb Club for its retail customers, including majors and independents.