06 Feb 2014

The De Beers Group of Companies has made three new appointments to its executive committee.

The three, Mr Paul Rowley, executive vice president of Global Sightholder Sales; Mr Neil Ventura, executive vice president of Auction Sales and Mr Balisi Bonyongo, CEO of Debswana, will join the executive committee with immediate effect.

A press release from De Beers explained that Mr Rowley joined De Beers in 1983 and that he had occupied a number of senior positions in the organisation. It said he had served on both the DTC Botswana and Namibia boards and that he was the acting CEO of DTC Botswana prior to his current role.

His experience included account management, rough diamond purchasing and heading the Global Sightholder Sales Diamond division. Mr Ventura joined De Beers in 1989, gaining experience in both mature and emerging markets before taking on the position of CEO of Diamdel (now Auction Sales) in July 2007.

The release said since taking on the role, he had established De Beers as a market leader in the sale of rough diamonds to small, mid-size and large manufacturing, retailing and trading businesses via online auctions.

Mr Bonyongo started his career with Debswana in 1993 as a junior plant metallurgist, holding several senior positions including the critical role of commissioning manager of the aquarium diamond processing plant at Jwaneng, the first of its kind in the world.

He also held the position of corporate strategy manager before assuming the role of Jwaneng general manager and later chief operating officer of Debswana.

“I am delighted to welcome Paul, Neil and Balisi to the executive committee. Together they have extensive diamond experience and have built reputations as diamond experts, creating value for De Beers and its partners, I look forward to working closely with them as we position De Beers for continued growth across the pipeline,” the release quoted Mr Philippe Mellier, CEO of the De Beers Group. ENDS