Eli Izhakoff

President, World Diamond Council
Honorary Lifetime President, World Federation of Diamond Bourses
Honorary President, Diamond Dealers Club

Eli Izhakoff is partner of J.Izhakoff & Sons, a diamond manufacturing and import/export firm, with offices in New York at 580 Fifth Avenue.

In 1979, he first joined the board of directors of the Diamond Dealers Club in New York, and in the years that followed held several senior positions, including chairman of the board and secretary.

He was elected to serve as treasurer-general of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses in 1986 and was appointed a member of its Executive Committee.

In January 1990, Mr. Izhakoff was elected president of the Diamond Dealers Club and immediately conceived and formed the Diamond Industry Steering Committee, an umbrella organization of the four diamond trade associations in New York and served as its first chairman.

At the World Diamond Congress, which was held in May 1991 in London, England, Mr. Izhakoff was unanimously elected president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB). He was unanimously re-elected for a second term at the following World Diamond Congress, which was held in Antwerp, Belgium, in June 1993. At the World Diamond Congress held in Tel Aviv, Israel, in May 1996, he was unanimously re-elected for an unprecedented third term as WFDB president. Upon his retirement from the position at the World Diamond Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, in July 1998, he was unanimously elected as Honorary Lifetime President of the WFDB. At the CIBJO Congress in Vancouver, Canada, in 2006, Mr, Izhakoff was named an Honorary Life President of CIBJO, The World Jewellery Confederation.

At the World Diamond Congress held in Antwerp, Belgium, in July 2000, Mr. Izhakoff was unanimously elected as chairman of the World Diamond Council.

Among awards and decorations he has received are the Officer of the Order of Leopold from the King of Belgium, the Israel Diamond Industry Dignitary Award, the New York Diamond Industry Lifetime Achievement Award, and special honours from the president of the Republic of Sakha and the government of Thailand.

He is a member of the board of directors of several other organizations, and also holds the titles of

• Honorary Chairman of the Diamond Industry Steering Committee, New York, USA;
• Honorary President of the Diamond Dealers Club, New York, USA;
• and Honorary Chairman of the Bangkok Diamonds and Precious Stones Exchange, Bangkok, Thailand.