De Beers Names Sally Morrison PR Director of Natural Diamonds

New York—De Beers Group’s Sally Morrison is changing roles, moving from the lab-grown to the mined diamond side.

De Beers announced Monday that the longtime industry marketer has joined its Consumer and Brands division as director of public relations for natural diamonds.

The position is a relatively new one for De Beers Group, but the company said Morrison will have more of a U.S. focus in the role, concentrating on media, trade and designer outreach for natural diamonds in the United States.

She will be based in New York and start immediately in her new position.

Morrison previously served as Lightbox Jewelry’s chief marketing officer, the responsibilities of which she will hand over in the coming months.

She has held a variety of roles in the industry, beginning at the now-defunct Diamond Information Center, or DIC, in 2002.

She also held executive roles at Forevermark, the World Gold Council, the Diamond Producers Association and Gemfields before moving into her current position at Lightbox in late 2017.

Morrison told National Jeweler that her recent experience at Lightbox “has reconfirmed that women are still captivated by the jewelry sector.

“As an industry we need to continue to work to engage consumers with energetic and creative communications that lure them away from other products in our competitive set.”

As she transitions from lab-grown back to natural diamonds, she said she believes the two products are complementary and fulfill different roles in consumers’ lives.

“Natural diamonds are, overwhelmingly, what most consumers prefer to celebrate the most important milestones in their emotional lives; they allow the deepest expression of human connection,” she said.

“However, it is precisely because they mean so much that they are sometimes feel out of reach for decorative, fun, fashion jewelry. This is where the lab-grown diamonds can work well—they have the sparkle, the colors can be manipulated to support a huge breadth of design, and the price points allow consumers more frequent additions to their jewelry wardrobe.”

For her work marketing diamonds, gems and gold over the years, the Gem Awards honored Morrison with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.

“Sally has a real passion for the jewelry industry, and particularly for the joy that natural diamonds bring to consumers around the world,” said Stephen Lussier, executive vice president of consumer and brands at De Beers.

“With so many people being separated from their loved ones in recent months,