Nishit Parikh elected AWDC President
Antwerp, July 4, 2010 – The Board of Directors of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre has elected Nishit Parikh to serve as AWDC President for the coming two years. Mr. Parikh will be the first person of Indian origin to stand at the head of the Antwerp diamond sector’s primary representative organisation.
The AWDC Board of Directors also elected two vice presidents to serve alongside Mr. Parikh. They are Philippe Barsamian, who is a representative of the Antwerp diamond bourses, and Stéphane Fischler, who represents the manufacturers’ associations.
Mr. Parikh was one of six of the AWDC’s 12-person Board of Directors to be elected by direct election on June 16, and is serving a second term as an AWDC director, having first been elected in 2006.
A Belgian citizen, Mr. Parikh was born in Navsari, India, in 1965. He moved with his family to Antwerp, where his father, Mahendra Parikh, established the Diarough office in 1975. He studied at the Antwerp International School and later in Paris.
Mr. Parikh todays heads Diarough, which employs a staff of 50 in Antwerp, is a De Beers sightholder, and cuts and polishes diamonds in its own factories in India, Thailand, Botswana, South Africa and Canada.
“We congratulate Mr. Nihit Parikh upon his election as AWDC President,” said Freddy J. Hanard. CEO of AWDC. “With his intimate knowledge of the diamond business and his long record of public service, he comes well equipped to fill this role. And with his dedication to the continued strength of the Antwerp centre, we are confident that, just like his predecessors, he will loyally defend the interests of all the sectors that make up our business community.”
Mr. Parikh succeeds Jacky Roth as AWDC President. Mr. Roth served in the position for four years.
