The Abbey Chikane of South Africa has been named a director of the World Diamond Council. Chikane joins fellow directors Sean Cohen, Eli Izhakoff, Peter Meeus, Sergey Oulin, Matt Runci, and Shmuel Schnitzer.

Chikane most recently served as chair of the Kimberley Process during the period of South Africa’s leadership of that process. He is widely recognized as having skillfully guided the multilateral negotiations between governments, civil society, and industry leading up to the launch of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme earlier this year.

Chikane’s term as chair concluded at the recent plenary meeting in Sun City, South Africa, where Canada assumed the reins of leadership of the KPCS for the upcoming year.

Chikane resides in his hometown of Johannesburg, where he is continuing to help reinvent the city that was built on gold.

JCK