De Beers Hires Exec to Promote Code of Origin

RAPAPORT... De Beers has appointed Ivette Nersesyan-Stephanopoulos as vice president of Code of Origin and trade services for North America.In her new role, Nersesyan-Stephanopoulos will be responsible for promoting and growing De Beers' trust-mark program, which enables retail jewelers to sell the miner's diamonds and tap into its branding. She will also endorse the company's trade services to the industry, including the De Beers Institute of Diamonds, grading, training courses and synthetic-detection equipment, De Beers said Monday.Previously, Nersesyan-Stephanopoulos was the senior director of global business development at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). She was also the director of wedding and high jewelry at David Yurman."Ivette's extensive market knowledge and insight will be valuable to the company as we look to scale the Code of Origin program from our initial phase to a driving force in the market, helping to uplift the value of all the diamonds that the De Beers Group mines from Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa, and provide consumer assurance of provenance," said Charles Stanley, president of De Beers brands, North America.Image: Ivette Nersesyan-Stephanopoulos. (De Beers)