Purvi Shah tells Rapaport News her plans for the role, which she will assume on February 7.
The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) has tapped Purvi Shah for the role of executive director, which has been open since Melanie Grant stepped down in January.
Shah will join the organization on February 7 from De Beers, where she is head of ethical and sustainable value chains.
Based in London, Shah has a long association with the RJC as cochair of its Standards Committee since 2018 and has been a board member since 2023. She also played a pivotal role in the development of the RJC’s industry standards: the Code of Practices COP 2024, the Chain of Custody COC 2024, and the Laboratory-Grown Materials Standard LGMS 2025.
“I’ve worked closely with the RJC for many years, [and this new role] is a natural fit and progression from the work I do at De Beers, which is focused on evolving our ethics and provenance programs,” Shah told Rapaport News. “At De Beers, I built policies and systems for ethics and provenance assurance that are internationally recognized, credible and scalable, while considerate to business operating contexts. I’ve learned that credibility is key, and to do that, it is about understanding tomorrow’s expectations.”
Shah will bring with her more than 15 years of experience working in ethics and standards within the jewelry industry, and a deep understanding of the complexities of the environmental, society and governance (ESG) landscape within the trade. At De Beers, Shah was responsible for the evolution of the miner’s Best Practice Principles and Pipeline Integrity programs, and under her leadership, sustainability was integrated into De Beers’ value chain, advancing its ESG credentials to meet evolving stakeholder expectations. She has also headed the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) Nomenclature Committee.
Her first months in the role will be spent listening to RJC members, the incoming executive director said. The message she would like to deliver is that she “wants to understand members’ priorities, challenges, and ideas on how the RJC can better serve them and strengthen our collective impact.”
“I feel very fortunate to be taking the reins at a time when everything is pretty stable,” she continued. “We are embedding our newly established suite of standards, and working to fine-tune certain aspects. I think my strengths lie in building strong relationships, [and I intend to] consult multiple stakeholders to understand how we might navigate new territory on new standards or tools, and I place a lot of value in hearing these perspectives. My key focus in 2026 will be understanding where our membership needs us most, and working towards that.”
Asked how she viewed the role of the RJC today, Shah replied that it should act as a “driver of value creation” to enhance consumer trust, foster innovation through collaboration, and support long-term business resilience for members. “The RJC’s critical role is in setting standards that are fit-for-purpose to meet current and emerging expectations in a deeply consultative manner,” she explained.
One of the biggest challenges that will shape Shah’s work at the RJC is likely to relate to increasing legislation. “After seeing strong advances on ESG-related legislation, my view is there is now some fragmentation, and different regions are moving at different speeds,” she said. “It is going to be important to navigate that with the right balance.”
While Shah admitted that at present “my lens is, of course, pretty focused on diamonds,” she pointed out the importance of shoring up traceability efforts across all sectors of the industry, particularly colored stones, where she felt the RJC could play a role to “help unlock some of the challenges there across complex and fragmented supply chains.”
Speaking generally to the advancement of positive impact within the industry, Shah said that collaboration would be critical: “If we can continue to collaborate as I’ve seen the industry coming together over the last few years, we can truly build standards which are responsive to expectations while being practical,” she elaborated. “I look forward to working with [RJC] members, the board, stakeholders, and the RJC team to advance our mission and deliver meaningful, lasting value for the entire industry.”
Image: Purvi Shah. (Responsible Jewellery Council)
Source : Rapaport