DUBAI DIAMOND CONFERENCE

Ahmed Bin Sulayem

Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
DMCC

Ahmed Bin Sulayem is the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DMCC and has driven its growth from a start-up of 28 member companies in 2003 to the world’s leading international business district in 2025 with over 26,000 member companies from 180 countries, employing over 90,000 people.

Tasked with enhancing commodity trade flows through Dubai, DMCC has introduced to the market a number of value-added products and services under Mr Bin Sulayem’s leadership. In 2023, DMCC was named ‘Global Free Zone of the Year’ by The Financial Times fDi Magazine, for a record ninth consecutive year.

Mr Bin Sulayem oversaw the exponential growth of the DMCC Free Zone master development in Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT), a 200-hectare business and residential community in Dubai of over 100,000 people living and working in 87 towers. Mr Bin Sulayem also oversees the development of DMCC’s latest real estate project, the Uptown Dubai district.

Mr Bin Sulayem currently serves as the Chairman of the Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) and the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX).

The Kimberley Process officially appointed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the first and only Arab country to Chair the Kimberley Process (KP) in November 2015. Shortly after, the UAE Ministry of Economy appointed Mr Bin Sulayem as the UAE’s Chair of the KP for 2016. Mr Bin Sulayem was reappointed as Chair of the KP for a historic second term in 2024, and again in 2025 as Custodian Chair, marking an unprecedented third term.

Feryal Ahmadi

Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer
DMCC

Feryal Ahmadi serves as the Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer of DMCC, playing a pivotal role in cementing its status as the world’s leading authority on international commodities trade and enterprise.

With two decades’ experience, Feryal oversees DMCC’s long-term strategic growth, driving corporate governance excellence and fostering initiatives that amplify global trade flows through Dubai. She has been instrumental in shaping and managing the development of DMCC’s flagship Uptown Dubai and Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) business districts, as well as spearheading the innovative DMCC Smart and Sustainable District Strategy.

As an official DMCC spokesperson, Feryal represents DMCC on global platforms, engaging with local and international media to elevate the organisation’s profile and champion Dubai’s thought leadership credentials on the world stage. Her influence has earned her repeated recognition in Forbes Middle East’s Top 100 Most Powerful Businesswomen, and she was named one of Arabian Business’s Top 100 Most Inspiring Women in 2025.

As a vocal advocate for sustainability, inclusivity, and women in leadership, Feryal is a member of the Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs) committee, established by UN Global Compact and UN Women. She leads DMCC’s comprehensive sustainability programmes and actively contributes to a number of semi-governmental boards across the UAE.

Feryal holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the American University of Sharjah and an Executive MBA from Harvard University.

Daniel Nyfeler

Managing Director
Gubelin Gem Lab Ltd

A geologist by formation, Daniel did his Master’s thesis in the Limpopo belt in Southern Africa. As part of his PhD in mineralogy at the University of Berne, he worked on a joint research project on superconductors at the IBM Research Lab in Rüschlikon, Zürich, together with Georg J. Bednorz (nobel prize in physics, 1987). He then joined an international management consultancy, where he worked for several years as a strategy consultant. Daniel took over the position of Managing Director of the Gübelin Gem Lab in 2003, overseeing the expansion of the lab to Hong Kong, New York and Bangkok. He also initiated Provenance Proof™, developing a range of groundbreaking tracking and tracing technologies to bring transparency in the value chain of gemstones. Most recently, he and his team developed the deep-learning software Gemtelligence™, which evaluates multimodal analysis data using neural networks to support the work of human experts in determining origin and treatment of gemstones. Daniel is a member of several CIBJO commissions and workgroups.

Daniel Wolfe

CEO
Facent Open Market Administration Inc.

Daniel L. Wolfe is co-founder and CEO of Facent, a fintech company developing an asset-referenced token under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). He is also founder and managing director of Simoleon Long-Term Value, an investment fund focused on blockchain-related businesses and digital assets.

A financial-markets executive, entrepreneur and board director, Daniel has more than 30 years of experience in capital markets, private equity, corporate governance and commodity-linked enterprises. He has served as an independent non-executive director and audit committee chair for leading companies including Uralkali, a global potash producer;UC Rusal, a global aluminum producer;TCS Group, parent company of T-Bank;AFK Sistema;Segezha Group;and Rolf.
Previously, Daniel was Deputy General Director of Onexim Group and co-founded Alfa Capital Partners, which raised more than US$700 million in private-equity funds. He also served as COO of Troika Dialog Investment Bank and as a member of Russia’s National Stock Market Participants Trading Committee and Committee on Settlement and Risk Management.

Daniel holds a J.D. from Columbia Law School and a B.A., cum laude, from Dartmouth College.

Davy Blommaert

Partner
Panis

Davy Blommaert is a Partner at Panis, an accountancy and advisory firm with more than 75 years of history, where he focuses on the firm’s strategic development, international clients and further growth.

Davy started his career in the diamond industry with International Diamond Laboratories (IDL), a subsidiary of DMCC, giving him an early connection to DMCC and Dubai’s rapidly developing diamond ecosystem from 2007 onwards.

He subsequently spent almost two decades in international banking and financial services, predominantly in Dubai. He spent six years with Antwerp Diamond Bank, working across Antwerp, Hong Kong and Dubai, before joining National Bank of Fujairah (NBF). At NBF, he established and headed the bank’s diamond financing activities and subsequently served as Head of Diamond, Government & Large Corporates. He also played a key role in establishing NBF’s representative office in Antwerp.

Throughout his career, Davy has developed extensive expertise in corporate finance, international trade, banking and the global diamond industry, building a strong network across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He also serves on the Board of the Dubai Diamond Exchange.

Davy holds Master’s degrees in Commercial Sciences, Law and Tax Law, as well as an MBA. His combination of legal, financial, tax and international business experience allows him to advise entrepreneurs and family-owned businesses from a broad strategic perspective.

Edahn Golan

CEO
Edahn Golan Diamond Research & Data Ltd

Diamond Industry Analyst & Founder, Edahn Golan Diamond Research & Data / Tenoris

Edahn Golan has spent more than 25 years analyzing the diamond industry, from rough diamond pricing to consumer buying behavior. He founded Edahn Golan Diamond Research & Data, a research and consultancy firm serving the global diamond trade, and serves as managing partner at Tenoris, which tracks U.S. jewelry sales on a per-transaction basis and provides retail and consumer trend data to the industry.

In 2018, Edahn launched the industry's first wholesale price list for lab-grown diamonds. His research has informed decisions made by major diamond miners, jewelry retailers, financial institutions, and government agencies, and he's been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Business Insider, and Les Echos.

He guest lectures at Antwerp University and speaks regularly at industry conferences, offering data-driven perspective on the questions shaping the diamond and jewelry world, from mining to the showroom floor.

Follow Edahn on LinkedIn and X @edahn, or explore his research at EdahnGolan.com and Tenoris.bi.

Felicitas Morhart

Professor of Marketing
University of Lausanne

Felicitas Morhart is Full Professor of Marketing at the Business School of the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). She holds a PhD in Marketing from the University of St. Gallen. Her research lies at the intersection of consumer psychology, luxury branding, and authenticity and has been published in top international outlets. In 2027, the second edition of her Research Handbook on Luxury Branding will be published. She is the Founder of the Swiss Center for Luxury Research, co-founder of Originalluxury, and co-host of the podcast Luxury on Air together with Deloitte Switzerland.

Hans Schwab

Co-founder
OriginAll Services

Hans J. Schwab is an entrepreneur with extensive experience in founding and co-founding ventures across the technology, aeronautics, and services sectors. For the past two decades, his focus has been on developing platforms and applications to combat counterfeiting and illicit trade.

Prior to co-founding OriginAll, Hans served as Chief Information Officer of a publicly traded Swiss cybersecurity company. Earlier in his career, he spent a decade in various senior roles at the World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, including as a member of its Executive Board. He also held senior management positions for seven years at a Swiss multinational in the security industry.

Hans was an early member of the OECD Taskforce on Charting Illicit Trade. From 2014 to 2016, he was a
member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Human Rights and the Meta-Council on the Illicit Economy.

Harsh Kamani

Co Founder & Director
Custodia Luxury Goods Trading FZCO

Harsh Kamani is a financial markets professional, entrepreneur and investor with extensive experience across global capital markets, investment advisory and alternative assets. He is the Co-Founder of Capital Custodia, a Dubai-based luxury asset platform bringing institutional thinking, transparency and financial-market innovation to the world of high-value physical assets.

Drawing on decades of experience in financial markets, Harsh is focused on how principles long established in capital markets — price discovery, liquidity, transparency, risk management and institutional custody — can be applied to traditionally opaque luxury markets.

Through Capital Custodia, he is exploring new models that enable owners of luxury assets to discover fair market value, access liquidity and retain greater flexibility over their assets. The platform combines technology, professional authentication, competitive dealer price discovery and institutional custody to create a more transparent and trusted ecosystem.

Jamal Akhtar

Director
BILLITON DIAMOND FZCO

Jamal Akhtar is a diamond-industry professional and entrepreneur focused on the tokenisation of high-value real-world assets, particularly diamonds and coloured gemstones. He combines more than 15 years of hands-on diamond-industry experience with practical expertise in auctions, mine-to-market operations, valuation, custody, compliance, and technology-enabled transaction systems.

His career includes senior commercial and operational roles with BHP Billiton, Dominion Diamond Corporation and Grib Diamonds NV, where he managed diamond sales and auctions, developed auction and inventory-management systems, strengthened customer engagement, and supported mine-to-market supply chains across international markets.

Jamal’s current work centres on developing credible frameworks for the digital representation, fractional ownership and controlled transfer of diamonds and gemstones. His approach addresses the fundamental requirements for tokenising physical assets: reliable valuation, provenance and asset identification, secure custody, transparent ownership records, investor protection and governance mechanisms linking each digital token to the underlying physical asset.

As Director and Shareholder of Billiton Diamond FZCO, he is responsible for diamond and gemstone operations, supply-chain development, compliance, and systems design. He brings a practical industry perspective to tokenisation—bridging the physical diamond trade with digital infrastructure designed to improve transparency, liquidity, accessibility and confidence in the ownership of rare and valuable assets.

Kinjal Shah

Responsible Jewellery Council
Head of Asia & Middle East Development

Since April 2015, Kinjal Shah has been making significant contributions as the Head of Asian & Middle East Development at the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC). With 25 years of experience—20 of which are rooted in the gem and jewellery industry—he is committed to expanding RJC's impact across Asia from his base in Surat, India. Kinjal focuses on cultivating partnerships with stakeholders to raise awareness and drive membership growth within the region. Before joining RJC, he played an instrumental role at a UK multinational company ( I Hennig & Co), where he enhanced relationships within the mid-stream jewellery supply chain while championing global sustainability efforts. His dedication to collaboration reflects his belief in creating a more ethical future for the industry.

Margot Stuart

Co-founder
ORIGINALLUXURY

Margot brings over 18 years of expertise in combatting illicit trade and counterfeiting. As an early member of the OECD Taskforce on Charting Illicit Trade, she has been at the forefront of initiatives co-developed alongside international organizations such as INTERPOL and WCO.

Beyond countering illicit trade, Margot has a proven track record in establishing and scaling startups. Her role in steering operational activities at a MedTech startup has equipped her with a deep understanding of regulatory and quality mandates. Over the years, she has become a recognized subject matter expert in traceability and product data integrity, with profound insights into Sustainable Business Management.

Today, Margot co-leads the ORIGINALLUXURY initiative, uniting over 500 luxury stakeholders and +30 technology partners to promote transparency and traceability. She also serves as the Designated Operator of the DMCC Luxury Innovation Centre, a pioneering hub in Dubai dedicated to accelerating innovation in luxury, empowering brands and technology providers to collaborate, showcase solutions, and shape the future of responsible luxury.

Margot serves on the Advisory Board of Truly Precious, where she contributes her expertise in traceability, transparency, and responsible innovation to support the organization's mission of advancing trust, ethical practices, and sustainability throughout the global jewellery and gemstone ecosystem.

Margot is also an Advisor to Women in Sustainable Luxury, supporting the community in driving high-impact projects, fostering responsible practices, and empowering women shaping the future of the luxury industry. Margot also serves as a jury member for the Packaging Première Luxury & Premium Innovation Awards, lending her expertise in traceability and transparency to recognize the most innovative packaging and product design projects in the luxury industry.

Martin Leake

Executive Director
Martin Leake FZCO

Dr Martin Leake is a diamond and natural-resources executive with more than 30 years’ international experience spanning exploration, mining, sales and marketing, industry governance and government policy. A geologist by training, Martin began his career in mineral exploration and played an integral role in the discoveries of Canada’s Ekati Diamond Mine and the Essakane Gold Mine in Burkina Faso. He subsequently became Vice President and General Manager of BHP Billiton Diamonds Marketing, where he led the commercial strategy for Ekati and pioneered transparent, competitive approaches to rough-diamond sales. Since moving to Dubai, Martin has worked extensively with DMCC and the UAE Government, including as Special Advisor for Precious Stones and Special Advisor to the UAE Chair of the Kimberley Process in 2024 and 2025. He has also served on the Board of the World Diamond Council, the Executive Committee of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses and as Vice Chair of the Responsible Jewellery Council. Throughout his career, Martin has focused on how transparency, competition, technology and better market structures can unlock value. He is currently exploring how tokenisation and blockchain-based ownership models can broaden access to high-value gemstones and create new opportunities for investment, liquidity and trust in the diamond and gemstone markets.

Michael Mintrone

Head of Diamond Department
SSEF (Swiss Gemmological Institute)

Michael joined SSEF in 2022 as a research scientist and is since April 2024 the Head of the Diamond Department at SSEF. He holds a Ph.D. from ETH Zürich in Earth Sciences, specialised in geochemistry and petrology. Today, he is mainly focusing on impurities present in both natural and synthetic diamonds to improve their identification.

He participated in the ASDI-500 development, the first automated device to screen natural colourless diamonds as small as 0.5 mm. He is involved in different research projects on natural, treated, and synthetic diamonds and in several teaching activities at the SSEF.

Nicolas Freudiger

CEO/Co-Founder
ID Genève Watches

Nicolas Freudiger, co-founder and CEO of ID Genève Watches. After graduating from the Lausanne Hospitality business school and a short corporate career, Nicolas decided to pursue his dream and create a new identity in the world of watchmaking, entirely based on sustainable development and the integration of circular materials that have a lower carbon footprint than the industry average. ID is already backed by impact investors as well as influent Swiss family offices including Leonardo DiCaprio in person.

Rajesh Kothari

VP - Operations & Market Development
GIA Laboratory FZCO

With over 35 years of illustrious experience in the global gem & jewellery industry, from sourcing rough diamonds internationally, to cutting & polishing, to driving technological innovations that have transformed the industry. His leadership has seen the establishment of cutting & polishing units across Russia, South Africa, Botswana, and multiple cities in India. From his role as Director & CEO at Sarin Technologies India Pvt. Ltd., where he pioneered the integration of diamond scanning technology into manufacturing, to VP–Manufacturing Operations at De Beers, he has always championed innovation. At GIA, as VP–Operations & Market Development EMEA, he continue setting global standards in quality, productivity, and skill development.

Robert Farquhar

Chief Executive Officer, MENA
Ctrl Alt

Robert is Chief Executive Officer, MENA at Ctrl Alt, where he leads the firm's growth across the region with a focus on tokenization and the convergence of traditional and digital finance. He works closely with governments, financial institutions and regulators across the GCC to develop compliant digital asset infrastructure and digital capital markets. Robert's background is in investment banking at Lloyds Banking Group in London, where he structured financial products for non-bank financial institutions. Since relocating to Dubai, he has built and scaled ventures across FinTech and PropTech, developing a close understanding of the region's regulatory, commercial and cultural dynamics. He combines financial engineering discipline with practical execution, supporting governments and financial institutions in bringing alternative assets on-chain at scale. Ctrl Alt served as tokenization partner for the Dubai Land Department's Real Estate Tokenization Project and holds a VASP licence from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), the first firm to receive an Issuer licence. Ctrl Alt has tokenized more than $1.7 billion in alternative assets across real estate, private credit, funds and commodities.