Eli Izhakoff

A member of a family that pioneered the diamond industry both in the United States and Israel, he is a partner at J. Izhakoff & Sons, a diamond manufacturing and import/export firm, with offices in New York.[1]

In 1979, he first joined the board of directors of the (Diamond Dealers Club), in New York, the largest diamond exchange in the United States, and in the years that followed held several senior positions, including chairman of the board and secretary. He was elected to serve as treasurer-general of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses, a global body that unites diamond exchanges around the world in 1986, and was appointed a member of its executive committee.

In January 1990, Izhakoff was elected president of the Diamond Dealers Club and conceived and formed the Diamond Industry Steering Committee, an umbrella organization of the four diamond trade associations in New York, and served as its first chairman.[2]

At the World Diamond Congress, which was held in May 1991 in London, England, Izhakoff was unanimously elected president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB). He was unanimously re-elected for a second term at the following World Diamond Congress, which was held in Antwerp, Belgium, in June 1993. At the World Diamond Congress held in Tel Aviv, Israel, in May 1996, he was unanimously re-elected for a third term as WFDB president.[3]

During his term as WFDB president his played an instrumental role the expansion of the federation, and oversaw the establishment of new diamond bourses in Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, China, Russia and India.[4][5]

In June 1995, Izhakoff played a key role in the organization of an international diamond summit, attended by many industry leaders, which revealed for the first time to the world the scope of the Russian diamond industry. It began with a conference in Moscow, and continued with a tour of various mining sites in the Republic of Sakha, during which its president, Mikhail Yefimovich Nikolayev, presented awards of recognition to Izhakoff, Nicholas Oppenheimer and Gary Ralfe of De Beers, and Maurice Tempelsman of Lazare Kaplan International.[6]

Upon completion of his third term as WFDB president at the World Diamond Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, in July 1998, he was unanimously elected as Honorary Life President of the WFDB.[7][8]

Following the emergence of the conflict diamond crisis in Africa in the late 1990s, Izhakoff was requested by industry leaders to head a new organization that would coordinate efforts to end the trade in rough diamonds financing civil conflict. Called the World Diamond Council (WDC), it was established at the World Diamond Congress in Antwerp, Belgium, in July 2000, and he was unanimously elected as its founding president.[9]

Over the three years that followed, Izhakoff worked together with government representatives from around the world and representatives of civil society, to create an international system that will regulate the flow of rough diamonds into the distribution pipeline, in order to eliminate the presence of merchandise from areas of civil conflict. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, of which he is considered an architect, was accepted an implemented in 2003, and endorsed by the United Nations Security Council. It is recognized as having reduced the number of conflict diamonds in the pipeline from more than 4 percent of the total to less than one tenth of 1 percent.[10]

In November 2006, Izhakoff, briefed G8 ministers in Moscow on the Kimberley Process and its success as a possible model to meet the challenges of global terror.[11]

A critical achievement was recorded during the 7thWorld Diamond Council Annual Meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, in July 2010, when the Kimberley Process was able to reach consensus on an agreement that would enable the renewal of rough diamond exports from the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe, solving a crisis that threatened to paralyze the rough diamond trade. Izhakoff had earlier invited the Kimberley Process to hold a mini-summit in St. Petersburg alongside the World Diamond Council, in a further attempt to reach agreement over Marange. As a result, a senior delegation from the government of Zimbabwe, including Minister of Mining Obert Moses Mpofu, and Zimbabwe's attorney general, Johanne Tomama, traveled to St. Petersburg for the meeting. So did a high-level delegation from the U.S. State Department led by Susan Page, Assistant U.S. Deputy Secretary of State.[12]

Just prior to the WDC Annual Meeting in St. Petersburg, Zimbabwe had released from custody Farai Maguwu, a local human rights activist who it earlier had been accused of providing false information prejudicial to the state in connection with the Marange diamond fields. During the meeting, Izhakoff publicly called on the Zimbabwe attorney general to drop the still-pending charges against Mr. Maguwu, and this eventually happened in October. In book he later contributed to about the period, Maguwu credited Izhakoff for helping obtain his release from custody and convincing the Zimbabwe authorities to drop the charges against him.[13]

When he stepped down as WDC President in 2013, he was elected Honorary Life President of the organization.[14]

In 2014, Izhakoff was invited to assist in the development of a major project in the Republic of Panama, the goal of which was to establish the first dedicated diamond, colored gemstone and jewelry trading center in Latin America. Called the World Jewelry Hub, it also is the headquarters of Latin America's first recognized diamond bourse, the World Jewelry & Diamond Hub, Panama.[15]

Izhakoff holds the titles of Honorary Chairman of the Diamond Industry Steering Committee, New York, USA; Honorary President of the Diamond Dealers Club, New York, USA; and Honorary Chairman of the Bangkok Diamonds and Precious Stones Exchange, Bangkok, Thailand.[8][16][17]

At the CIBJO Congress in Vancouver, Canada, in 2006, Izhakoff was named an Honorary Life President of CIBJO, The World Jewellery Confederation.[18]

He has received the Officer of the Order of Leopold from the King of Belgium,[19] the Rapaport Award for Corporate Social Responsibility,[20] the Israel Diamond Industry Dignitary Award,[21] the New York Diamond Industry Lifetime Achievement Award, Diamantaire of the Year from the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), the Medal of Honor from the Israel Diamond Institute,[22] a special award from the Israel Diamond Exchange, the Andrea Palladio International Jewellery Award for Corporate and Social Responsibility,[23] and special honors from the president of the Republic of Sakha, the government of Thailand, the government of South Africa[24][25] and the Dubai Multi Commodities Center.[26][27]

• Interview with Rough & Polished (July 2015)
• Interview with JCK Magazine (July 2013)
• Video: Israel Diamond Institute Honors World Diamond Council President Eli Izhakoff (May 2013)
• Video: Interview with Israel Diamond Industry Portal (April 2013)
• Video: Dubai Diamond Conference Honors World Diamond Council President Eli Izhakoff (March 2013)
• U.S. State Department announcement: U.S. and EU Officials Meet With Diamond Industry Leaders To Discuss Government-Industry Engagement (Nov. 17, 2011)
• ״Diamond Traders Act on Africa War Issue״, New York Times, Sep. 8, 2000