Schedule, Speakers Announced for Industry Summit

New York--The lineup of speakers and sessions for the inaugural Jewelry Industry Summit have been announced, and those interested can now register to attend the event.

The Jewelry Industry Summit, scheduled for March 11 to 13 in New York, is an open-forum conference focusing on sustainability and responsible sourcing. It is designed to be an interactive event that will be broken out into large and small discussion groups facilitated by industry professionals.

While summit organizers said they are steering away from a full agenda of speakers in an effort to drive attendee participation, a few presentations have been scheduled to give the group insight on what currently constitutes a responsible sourcing program. 

The speakers are Anna Bario, co-owner of responsibly sourced jewelry brand Bario Neal; Stewart Grice, vice president of jewelry supplier Hoover and Strong; a representative from sustainable jewelry brand Melissa Joy Manning; Dorothée Gizenga, executive director at the Diamond Development Initiative; Erik Jens, CEO of ABN AMRO Bank’s international diamond and jewelry group; and Maria Gorsuch-Kennedy from Dell, who will speak about driving social and environmental responsibility through the computer hardware product lifestyle.

In addition to speakers, the summit also will host poster sessions from the Alliance for Responsible Mining, Columbia Gem House, DDI, the Diamond Empowerment Fund, Elevate, Ethical Metalsmiths, Hoover and Strong, Martello Risk, the Responsible Jewellery Council, Richline Group, Underwriters Laboratories and the U.S. Council for International Business.

“For industry members who feel that their views have been ignored, for those who are frustrated and angry about current responsible sourcing systems, this is your chance to speak up and be heard,” said Edward Boehm, a colored gemstone expert who also is the CEO of Rare Source and a member of the Jewelry Industry Summit planning committee. “Our collaborative approach to this topic makes it different from other meetings you may have attended. We want to hear from new voices.”

The Jewelry Industry Summit will be held at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Registration is open and can be found here. Summit sponsorships also are available; those interested can contact Suzan Flamm at suzan@jvclegal.org.

More details about the event, including dates and times, can be found here.