Varda Shine to Join Sarine Technologies As Independent Director

(IDEX Online) – Sarine Technologies Ltd has announced that former De Beers' Diamond Trading Company (DTC) CEO Varda Shine has agreed to join its board of directors as an independent director, subject to approval at the Annual General Meeting to be held in Singapore on April 25.

Shine’s career in the diamond industry has spanned 30 years. She has a wealth of experience and expertise in fields such as corporate strategy development, expansion of markets (including into developing markets such as India and China), business development and personal development for senior employees, Sarine said in a statement.

"As CEO of the DTC, De Beers’ rough diamond sales arm with an annual turnover of approximately $6 billion, Varda led the business to then-record sales and profits, whilst pioneering new approaches to working with government partners in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Canada, initiatives which led to a combined annual turnover in excess of $1 billion and created over 10,000 jobs in those countries. Under Ms. Shine’s stewardship the DTC successfully completed the multibillion dollar relocation of its sales operations from London to Botswana in what was one of the largest ever transfers of economic activity from the northern to the southern hemisphere."

Shine is currently an independent director of the Mineral Development Company Botswana, a company wholly owned by the Botswana government, and a non-executive director of Lonmin PLC, the third largest platinum mining company, Sarine said. She is also a Board member of the Diamond Empowerment Fund, an international non-profit, supporting education initiatives in diamond producing countries, and a trustee of the Teenage Cancer Trust, a UK based charity. She also serves as a mentor for CEOs and executives of listed companies, with Merryck & Co, a London based company, serving European-listed companies, African and Far East businesses, and is a diamond industry consultant.

Daniel Glinert, Sarine's executive chairman of the board said, "We are extremely proud that Varda has agreed to join us and serve as an independent director on Sarine's Board. Her addition to our Board will bring with it a wealth of experience, knowledge and networking that will greatly benefit the company. As the group focuses its expansion and growth on the downstream polished diamond trade segment of the diamond industry, and in compliance with corporate governance principles, the company's Board has decided to diversify its composition. Three of the sitting directors, Messrs. Harel, Mashiah and Stark, members of the founding shareholders' group, have decided to step down at the end of their current term and not seek reappointment at the upcoming AGM. In their stead, the Board has sought and attained Ms. Shine's concurrence to join the Board and is actively seeking up to two additional candidates for directors, optimally with experience in the retail trade of polished diamonds in the North American and Asia Pacific markets.

As these candidates have not yet been identified, the Board composition proposed for the AGM's consideration on April 25 will comprise only seven directors. We will seek to complement the Board with up to two additional directors during 2017, whose confirmation will be brought to the following AGM in early 2018," Glinert added.