Damian Gagnon
Damian Gagnon is a skilled international business negotiator with a background in foreign affairs who has worked with African stakeholders for over 30 years. He is an expert in establishing successful business relations on the continent. Gagnon began his long history with Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Francophone West Africa following completion of his Bachelor’s Degree in 1973. Since then he has been employed by some of the most prestigious names in the U.S. gem and mineral industry, including the Leon Tempelsman and Son and Lazare Kaplan International Inc. Gagnon first gained employment with the Tempelsman group in 1987, when he was recruited by Maurice Tempelsman to serve as the company’s manager for business development in markets of West and Central Africa. His many accomplishments include negotiating Tempelsman’s winning bid to take over the marketing of the run-of-mine production of Ghana Consolidated Diamonds (GCD) Ltd., the oldest diamond mine in West Africa, helping to increase the selling price for GCD’s rough diamonds by 300%. He has been responsible for maintaining diplomatic ties between the Tempelsman group of companies and governments throughout Africa. Following his time at Tempelsman, Gagnon worked for Iridium Satellite LLC, a US-based satellite communications company seeking to extend telephone coverage to rural Africa. During the course of his contract, Gagnon successfully negotiated extension of Iridium’s telephony licenses with the governments of Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone. In 2003, Gagnon went to work exclusively for Lazare Kaplan International Inc. (LKI) as their Corporate Compliance and Social Responsibility Officer. In this role, Mr. Gagnon not only oversees the company’s social responsibility programs in Angola, he also works on negotiations with governments and suppliers in Africa. His many accomplishments include the coordination of LKI’s successful bid to partner with Namibia’s NamGem Diamond Manufacturing Company’s cutting and polishing facility, as well as the successful procurement of LKI’s diamond cutting license in the country of Botswana. A veteran development worker, Gagnon has served in the Peace Corps and worked with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). He has also worked for the United Nations’ Department of Technical Cooperation for Development to execute the UN’s Rural Water Supply Program in Sierra Leone. Currently Gagnon represents LKI at the UN Global Compact, which works with business leaders to promote best business practices around the globe. He is also a member of the Madison Dialogue, a group of international business and civic leaders working to promote ethical and sustainable mining, and he serves on the Council for Responsible Jewellery’s Standards Committee, working with miners, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to advance responsible ethical, social, environmental and human rights practices throughout the diamond and old jewellery supply chain, from mine to retail.
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