Marie-Chantal Kaninda
Executive Director, Head of Corporate Affairs at Glencore

Marie-Chantal Kaninda was named Executive Director of the World Diamond Council (WDC) on March 1, 2017. Immediately prior to joining the WDC, she was the Chief Advisor for External Affairs, Africa at Rio Tinto Corporation, a position she held since 2012. Before joining Rio Tinto, she held Administrative, Communication and External Affairs roles with other international mining companies such as Ashanti Goldfields, AngloGold Ashanti, and De Beers. She has provided her expertise to several community development projects in Africa, including successfully relocating a community in Angola, as well as implementing several Stakeholder Engagement strategy plans for a variety of African operations.

A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ms. Kaninda is founder and creator of a non-profit organization, the MCKM Foundation, which focuses on education for girls in the DRC. The 2nd Vice President of the National Committee for Women’s Soccer in the DRC, chairperson of the British Congo Business Group (BCBG), and chairperson of an Anti-Corruption Working Group for the private sector in the DRC, she is a Board Member of Standard Bank DRC and until end April 2017 she has been a Board member of the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI).

Fluent in French and English, she holds an Economics degree from the University of Liege in Belgium.