And the winner of the 2022 Gem Award for lifetime achievement is …

Michelle Graff

A longtime De Beers executive will receive the honor at the next Gem Awards, scheduled to take place in person in January 2022. 

A De Beers executive described as being “at the heart of” diamond marketing for four decades will receive the 2022 Gem Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Stephen Lussier, chairman of De Beers Jewellers and De Beers Forevermark and executive vice president of Brands & Consumer Markets for De Beers Group, will receive the award at the 20th annual Gem Awards, set to take place in January 2022. 

Lussier has been with De Beers since 1985.

Ten years after joining the company, he was appointed a director of the Diamond Trading Co. (or DTC, the name once used for De Beers’ sales and marketing arm) and in 2002 joined the DTC Executive Committee.

In 2005, Lussier was appointed to De Beers Group’s executive committee with responsibility for overseeing external and corporate affairs.

Four years later, he became CEO of Forevermark and executive vice president of marketing for De Beers Group. 

In 2019, Lussier stepped back from day-to-day operations of Forevermark to focus on his role as executive vice president of Brands & Consumer Markets, a role in which he helps to shape De Beers’ strategy at the consumer level. 

He also serves as chairman of the Natural Diamond Council and is a Responsible Jewellery Council board director. 

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Source National Jeweler