Colonel (Retired) Pierre Leblanc, MBA, OStJ, CD

Pierre was born and raised in Montréal, Québec, Canada. At 17, he joined the Canadian Forces and attended the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean in 1967. After graduating, he joined the Royal 22 e Régiment (Infantry) and saw service in a number of countries including England, Germany (NATO), Cyprus (peace keeping) and, India and Nepal (Defence Adviser). He commanded 1Commando and the Infantry School, and held senior staff appointments in the National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ). In 1995, he took command of Canadian Forces Northern Area ( Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest Territories) where he served until his retirement in 2000.

In September 2000, he joined Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. in Yellowknife, NWT, where he was the Vice President of Corporate Affairs. He had responsibilities for public affairs, government relations and marketing of rough diamonds. He became knowledgeable of diamond exploration, mining, marketing of rough diamonds, diamond manufacturing, diamond jewellery making and retail. He was closely involved in the design of the Canadian Voluntary Code of Conduct for Authenticating Canadian Diamond Claims. He participated in the review process of the Kimberley Process and contributed to its domestic implementation through Bill C-14. He was a member of the Industry Government Overview Committee (IGOC), NWT Sub-committee until 2004 and was instrumental in the completion of a study of the requirement for geoscience in the North of Canada.

In May of 2003, he formed Canadian Diamond Consultants Inc. to provide advice in the exciting and emerging Canadian diamond industry. His office was in Yellowknife, Canada, the heart of the Canadian diamond commercial activity. In 2004 he relocated to Ottawa, Ontario, the National Capital of Canada and an important political, regulatory and policy center for the Canadian diamond industry.

Pierre Leblanc specializes in the Canadian diamond pipeline with a view to provide interested parties with independent strategic, policy and commercial advice. He has a solid understanding of how the different elements of the pipeline interact together and where Canada fits in the international scene.

He has extensive contacts in the federal and territorial governments as well as in the diamond industry, from exploration to retail. He is a member of the World Diamond Council. He is the Treasurer of the Canadian Diamond Code Committee which manages the Canadian Voluntary Code of Conduct for the Authenticating Canadian Diamond Claims. He was instrumental in the formation of the Diamond Manufacturers Association of Canada and acted as its Executive Director from 2005 to 2013. He is a former director of Majescor Resources Inc, a diamond exploration company with projects in Canada, Brazil and Madagascar. He does freelancing and was published in Canadian Diamonds magazine. He is a Council Member with the Gerson Lehrman Group of New York.

Pierre has a Bachelor degree in Sciences (1973). He holds a Royal Military College of Science (England) Division I diploma (1980), a one year, post graduate course in project management. He has a Masters degree in Business Administration from Queen’s University (1998). He has completed a Gemmological Institute of America diamond grading course (2004).

Chronological Work Experience

Affiliations

Pierre Leblanc is associated with the following organizations and associations:  

• President and owner of Canadian Diamond Consultants Inc.
• Member of the World Diamond Council 2000-2014
• Signatory of the Canadian Voluntary Code of Conduct for Authenticating Canadian Diamond Claims
• Director and Treasurer of the Canadian Diamond Code Committee (managing the voluntary Code of Conduct)
• Former Member of the Board of Director of Majescor Resources Inc.
• Member of Jewellers Vigilance Canada
• Executive Director of the Diamond Manufacturers Association of Canada 2005-2013
• Council member Gerson Lehrman group of New York
• Advisor Coleman Research group of New York
• Advisor GuidePoint Global of New York
• Former columnist for Canadian Diamonds magazine
  
  
  

Adi Klausner, B.Sc. (Hons.)

Adi grew up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 1981 he graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Biochemistry and Chemistry. That same year he joined Krofta Engineering Corp., a Massachusetts-based company specializing in water treatment equipment.

In 1985, a brief family visit to Antwerp, Belgium led Adi to join the diamond firm of Charles Berkovic BVBA. Adi learned about this new challenging field one step at a time. His first years were focused on gaining expertise in assorting polished diamonds into the various categories of purity, colour and make, followed by valuating the assortments.

During the 80's market boom in Japan, the firm became one of the leading diamond suppliers to the Japanese market. In order to meet the Japanese demand for larger sizes, it became apparent that the firm would have to start polishing its own goods. Adi now became involved in the procurement of rough diamonds for the new polishing venture. He became adept at determining the geographical origin of rough diamonds and ascertaining the unique challenges posed by each source as it relates to polishing and profitability. The business would take him to Russia, China, the Republic of Central Africa and South Africa where he visited mines, polishing factories and attended rough diamond tenders.

In the early 90's Adi received a request from Japanese clients to polish "ideal" cut diamonds. the specifications for this "new old cut" were available from the literature, but the technicalities of the actual manufacture were problematic. There were no Sarin or Ogi scanners to measure polishing angles and existing tools were crude at best. In 1993 Adi set up a specialized "ideal cut" factory in Israel. He moved to Israel, hired some of the top polishers and proceeded to develop new techniques that improved not only the symmetry, but the final finish quality of the stones as well. At this time he became expert at marking rough diamonds for sawing and introduced the successful implementation of using microscopes in the marking process in order to minimize human error.

Due to growing demand for all qualities of polished goods, the factory was greatly enlarged in 1996 to include more staff and semi-automatic polishing machines. Greater throughput necessitated precise rough and capital control in the operation and Adi excelled in the optimization of both especially after the firm became a DTC sightholder in 1997.

Adi Klausner recently relocated back to Canada and maintains a global network of contacts and friends in the diamond industry.

Chronological Work Experience