Watch and Jewelry Initiative 2030 Taps Iris Van der Veken
● She has been appointed head of the Watch and Jewelry Initiative 2030 after quitting the Responsible Jewelry Council.
PARIS — Iris Van der Veken has been appointed executive director and general secretary of the Watch and Jewelry Initiative 2030, the Geneva-based association said Tuesday.
Van der Veken was until recently executive director of the Responsible Jewelry Council, quitting the organization in late March after a three-year tenure following the withdrawal of several companies, including Compagnie Financière Richemont and Kering, in protest over its failure to exclude Russian diamond mining company Alrosa in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Watch and Jewelry Initiative 2030 was initially founded by Kering and Cartier in partnership with the RJC. Despite the split, they decided to forge ahead with the official founding of the association at the Watches and Wonders fair in Geneva, while acknowledging the program would taker longer to implement as a result.
Van der Veken's nomination suggests Kering and Cartier have opted to build a separate organization, rather than trying to reform and change the governance of the RJC.
Kering's chief of sustainability and institutional affairs officer Marie-Claire Daveu said Van der Veken's “track record on strategic partnerships, depth of international sustainability experience in jewelry and fashion supply chains and her passion for building collective impact through the 17 Sustainable Goals makes her a strong leader.”
Cartier International president and chief executive officer Cyrille Vigneron expressed confidence in the new executive's leadership which would enable the association “to accelerate change and enable action throughout the global jewelry and watch supply chain,” thanks to her “deep commitment and highly valuable experience” that would be crucial to “make a transformative difference for the future generations.”
“I believe multistakeholder partnerships can truly accelerate the sustainability agenda and reporting on measurable progress is critical to enhance trust and transparency,” said Van der Veken, a 20-year veteran of the technology, jewelry and fashion industries with a background in law and international relations.
Luxury brands have been split over whether to support or renounce the RJC, although LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton said it was sticking with the organization.
“We think that if we want to change things, we have to be part of it. It's a lot easier changing from the inside than from the outside,” Louis Vuitton chairman and CEO Michael Burke told WWD in a recent interview.