US Ethical Jeweler Toby Pomeroy To Join ARM’s Board Of Directors
Introduction:
Press Release: 25, May, 2010 – From the Alliance of Responsible Mining:
Over the past 5 years the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) developed and tested the first standards for gold from artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM). In January ARM and FLO announced their historical partnership for Fairtrade and Fairmined certified gold from ASM, and in March 2010 the standards were published. ARM works with organised miners in Latin America (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru), and is beginning to extend its work to Southeast and West Africa.
Following an open call to its Stakeholder Alliance to nominate jewellers or traders to join its Board of Directors, four high level nominations were received by ARM. We wish to extend our sincere thanks to Bill Gallagher from Lori Bonn Design (USA), Eric Grossberg from Brilliant Earth (USA), and Vivien Johnson of Fifi Bijoux (Scotland) for accepting nominations, and are very honoured by their continued interest and commitment to our mission. British Fair Trade Jeweller, Greg Valerio who previously held one of the trading seats on the Board, is now leading on market development for Fairtrade and Fairmined gold at the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK.
In this new phase of development, ARM warmly welcomes US ethical jeweller Toby Pomeroy of Toby Pomeroy Fine Jewellery to its Board of Directors. Pomeroy brings to ARM his recognised leadership among the US ethical jewellery movement and his knowledge of the US jewellery supply chain and its key players. ARM looks forward to working with Toby as it extends its work in the US in the near future.
Toby Pomeroy has been a jewellery designer since 1967 and has pioneered a movement toward sustainably-sourced jewellery in the North American jewellery market. A talented artisan as well as creative visionary, he has been recognized by Jewellers’ Circular Keystone Magazine as one of the 7 most influential designers in 2008. Toby has been a key leader in the socially responsible jewellery movement since 2005 when he inspired two of the largest precious metals suppliers in the U.S, Hoover & Strong and Stuller, Inc., to offer reclaimed gold and silver to their clients as an alternative to un-sustainably mined metals.
His leadership on environmental issues in the jewellery business has garnered coverage in publications such as TIME, Vanity Fair, Elle, Shape, and Oprah. Toby was featured in the Sundance Channel TV documentary “Eco-trip Gold” in 2009. In 2010, his design studio received a top “A” grade in an industry-wide report generated by Washington, D.C.-based Earthworks’ “No Dirty Gold” campaign.
ARM is very pleased to announce the designation of Dr. Maria Laura Barreto, as its new chair of the Board. Laura will lead ARM through the challenges of global growth, and brings with her deep knowledge of the mining sector and expertise in public policies for enabling responsible ASM. Laura has been a member of the ARM Board since 2008.
Maria Laura Barreto has 28 years of experience in the field of the extractive industries in particular in mining and hydrocarbons sectors. Independent of the role that she has taken on: consultant, researcher, professor or advisor to policy makers, she has been working on the development of mining and environmental public policy that effectively contributes for the equitable and sustainable development of mineral rich countries. As part of this challenge, in the late 1980s, she started to work with Artisanal and Small Scale Mining, one of most important economic sectors in terms of its contribution as an employment generator but also one of the most marginalized economic sectors in developing countries.
Dr. Barreto’s long-term commitment is to help this sector to overcome some of the problems that have been an obstacle to prevent Artisanal and Small Scale Mining from playing a more substantial role in poverty alleviation. Maria Laura Barreto has a degree in Law, Master degree in Law and International Relations and PhD in Mining Engineering. She has worked in several countries in Latin America, North America, Asia and in Africa, the continent where she was born.
The ARM Board also includes two miners, Manuel Reinoso (ASM leader from Peru) and Ervin Renteria (ASM leader from Green Gold), Patrick Schein from S&P Trading (french based precious metal trader and refiner); Dr. Wilson Mutagwaba (ASM expert from Tanzania), and Catalina Cock-Duque (Amichoco NGO in Colombia).
