'MY AIM IS TO GET HRD ANTWERP FUTURE READY'

To hold the reins of Europe’s leading authority in diamond grading is no mean feat, accomplishing this daunting task is Ellen Joncheere, the newly appointed CEO of HRD Antwerp. a multi-talented woman who has gained immense experience in heading varied organizations, she shares her future plans with Diamond World

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Q: As the newly appointed CEO, what will your important roles and responsibilities at HRD Antwerp be?

A: First and foremost, I believe HRD Antwerp brought me on board to help regain its focus, to make sure all its branches, departments and individuals share a common sense of purpose and are all pulling in the same direction. One of my key roles will therefore be to clearly remind our staffof the mission of HRD Antwerp and the important role it plays as a leading diamond grading laboratory: conducting high-level diamond research and translating that research into services. This is a broad definition of the role I will play. On a more specific level, I believe it is my mandate to create an organisational culture that never loses sight of the fundamentals: providing reliable, consistent and quality service, and communicating effectively with existing and potential clients. To be even more specific: I intend to make sure that HRD Antwerp achieves complete uniformity when it comes to diamond grading. Clients must have total certainty that when HRD grades a diamond, whether it is in Antwerp, Istanbul or Mumbai, the result will be the same. Again, it is about taking care of the fundamentals. HRD has already built a tremendous brand and acquired a wealth of knowledge. It is already respected in the industry. If we are not performing as we should, that can only mean we have taken our collective eye offthe ball. I see it as my job to sharpen our focus again.

Q: You’ve joined HRD at a tricky time, the company itself is going through many changes – amidst a lot of tasks at hand, what tops your priority at the moment?