Julien Drybooms | IDC Officer

A third generation diamond manufacturer and dealer, Julien Drybooms, 60, is a long-serving IDC official.

In 1996, Mr. Drybooms was elected president of the Vrije Diamanthandel NV, following his elevation to the board in 1985 and his election to the vice presidency in 1990. The bourse, one of four representing Belgium’s diamond industry, was originally established by a group of Flemish diamond manufacturers from the rural Kempen in 1966.

Mr. Drybooms was appointed to serve on the Executive Committee of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses in 1996. Since 2007, he has served as chairman of HRD Antwerp NV. This is the commercial arm of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), the all-industry body representing the interests of the entire Belgian diamond sector.

Mr. Drybooms’ company, Drybooms & Zonen, which he runs together with his sons Jan, Koen and Bart, and his brother Jozef, serves markets in Europe, the United States, Japan, Korea and Hong Kong. He polishes large diamonds in his hometown of Grobbendonk, and smaller sizes in a factory in India. In Italy, his firm operates offices in Vicenza, Valenza and Brescia, and is also a partner in a jewelry factory. In 2007, the company became involved in a diamond mining project in Sierra Leone.