SoC Architect Named CEO of De Beers’ Element Six

Bain & Co. partner Cyrus Jilla has been named CEO of Element Six SA. Element Six is De Beers’ synthetic diamonds arm and a joint venture with Umicore SA. Jilla was the main architect of De Beers' Supplier of Choice strategy.

Jilla will take the helm October 1. Current CEO Christian Hultner will remain on the board of directors as a non-executive director.

Jilla has spent most of his career with global business consultants Bain & Company, most recently as managing partner of their London office. He has advised De Beers and the Element Six management since 1999, and he has served as a non-executive director of Element Six since 2003.

According to Tacy’s Chaim Even-Zohar, Diamond Trading Company (DTC) Sightholders know Jilla mostly from his crucial role in designing the Supplier of Choice strategies, the distribution policies of the DTC, and he was deeply involved in the various SoC modifications.

Insiders in London speculate that this is a further sign of De Beers' likely entry into the synthetic gem diamond field – a move that seems now being expedited. Jilla will also join the executive committee of De Beers.

Even-Zohar writes that present CEO Hultner is known for his business acumen, and he brought unprecedented growth to the De Beers Industrials (as Element Six was previously called). He successfully brought Element Six into the U.S. as a trading entity. Actually, the only area where Hultner lacks is strategic gem market thinking. He is also not familiar with the diamond promotion and marketing strategies of the DTC Sightholders.

Jilla brings to Element Six gem marketing and distribution strategies. Even-Zohar has maintained for the past decade that De Beers will enter the gem quality synthetic business – it is just a matter of when. De Beers possesses the best synthetic know-how, and it would be “sheer folly” for it to allow the inevitable gem synthetics market to go to others.

Even-Zohar estimates that in about 3 - 5 years the company will enter that market.

Element Six Chairman Jonathan Oppenheimer said in a statement that Jilla “brings extensive strategic and leadership capability that will be invaluable to Element Six in meeting the challenges of the future.”