David Kellie, who has served as head of the Natural Diamond Council (NDC) since December 2019, announced on Sunday he will step down from the job at the end of the year.
“I’m ready to retire,” Kellie tells JCK. “I’m in the fortunate position where I’m able to retire. I want to spend more time doing what I want to do.”
Kellie, who’s been based out of London since last year, says that he had made his decision prior to the signing of the Luanda Accord, where industry groups agreed to give the NDC a funding boost.
“It’s been on mind for a while,” he says. “I didn’t want to announce I was retiring before the agreement for fear of it disrupting the process.”
He notes that the NDC’s budget for this year “is still only $40 million. Despite the excitement around the Luanda agreement, I don’t want people to think the NDC is fully funded.”
Kellie says he plans to take a break from working, though if “someone approaches me with something incredibly exciting, that might tempt me.”
He also intends to keep out of the current industry marketing debates.
“Everyone’s got a subjective opinion,” he says, “but it’s not subjective opinions that drive marketing but data. It’s not me making a decision on what we do or don’t do. If the data is positive, we do more of it. If it’s not, we do less.”
He doesn’t know when a replacement will be chosen. “That’s up to the board,” he says.
Prior to joining the NDC, Kellie was the head of U.S. marketing for Watches of Switzerland. In June 2020, he rebranded the group previously known as the Diamond Producers Association as the NDC.
Kellie first announced his decision on LinkedIn.
Photo courtesy of the Natural Diamond Council
- Subscribe to the JCK News Daily
- Subscribe to the JCK Special Report
- Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazine
- Follow JCK on X: @jckmagazine
- Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine
