De Beers Announces New Members of Exec Cttee

The new members, with immediate effect, are Paul Rowley, Executive Vice President of Global Sightholder Sales, Neil Ventura, Executive Vice President of Auction Sales, and Balisi Bonyongo, CEO of Debswana.

De Beers has announced three new senior appointments to its Executive Committee which it says adds 75 years of diamond experience to the panel. 

Paul Rowley joined De Beers in 1983 and has filled a variety of senior positions. He has served on both the DTC Botswana and Namibia DTC boards and was Acting CEO of DTC Botswana prior to his current role. His earlier experience also includes key account management, rough diamond purchasing in various African diamond producing countries and heading the Global Sightholder Sales Diamond Division.

Neil 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, which has helped turn De Beers into a market leader in the sale of rough diamonds to small, mid-size and large manufacturing, retailing and trading businesses via online auctions, the miner said.

Meanwhile, Balisi 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.