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De Beers Group has announced that its chief executive officer (CEO), Bruce Cleaver, will be succeeded by Al Cook, effective early next year.
Cleaver will become co-chairman of De Beers Group, alongside De Beers Group chairman and Anglo American chief executive Duncan Wanblad.
Overall, Cook brings over 25 years of international leadership experience, including at BP and Equinor. Most recently, he led Equinor’s global E&P business across Africa, the Americas and Europe.
Previously, he led Equinor’s global strategy and business development, developing the company’s net zero strategy.
Meanwhile, during more than six years as CEO of De Beers Group, Cleaver has led the business’s transformation across the value chain.
During his tenure, the group has launched the world’s “largest and most sophisticated” diamond recovery and exploration vessels, redesigned supply agreements with Sightholders, integrated the organisation’s downstream businesses, and created Tracr™ (a distributed diamond blockchain).
Cleaver also launched the Lightbox Jewelry laboratory-grown diamond business, and established and embedded the Building Forever sustainability framework across the group, including setting 12 sustainability goals for 2030.
Wanblad said: “Bruce has successfully expanded De Beers’ horizons for the longer term and reinforced the company’s unquestioned leadership position, exemplified by De Beers’ Building Forever sustainability framework to ensure an enduring positive diamond legacy. I look forward to his contribution as co-chairman.
“I believe Al’s multi-disciplinary strategic skillset and strong personal conviction and values are ideally suited to the nature of De Beers, a global business that spans much of the spectrum from exploration and mining to Bond Street and Madison Avenue.”
Cook added: “I am honoured to have the opportunity to lead the company behind the world’s leading diamond brand – De Beers. I look forward to working closely with De Beers’ people, customers, governments, and other stakeholders to ensure that De Beers continues to lead the industry and deliver sustainable and purpose-driven value.”
