The board of directors for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) elected Nishit Parikh to serve as its president for the next two years. Parikh, 44, is a citizen of Belgium, but was born in  Navsari, India. He  heads Diarough, which employs 50 people in Antwerp and is a Diamond Trading Company (DTC) sightholder. 

The board also elected two vice presidents to serve alongside Parikh: Philippe Barsamian, who is a representative of the Antwerp diamond bourses, and Stéphane Fischler, who represents the manufacturers’ associations.

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 currently serving his second term as an AWDC director, having first been elected in 2006. 

“We congratulate Mr. Nishit Parikh upon his election as AWDC president,” said Freddy J. Hanard, the chief executive officer (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 center, we are confident that, just like his predecessors, he will loyally defend the interests of all the sectors that make up our business community.”