ICA names Brandee Dallow CEO to boost colored gemstone sector

Brandee Dallow was named chief executive officer of the International Colored Gemstone Association on June 25, with the appointment set to take effect July 6. The move places an executive steeped in trade communications, sustainability and association work at the helm of the only worldwide body created specifically to serve the colored gemstone industry.

ICA said Dallow will work closely with its board and membership to strengthen engagement, expand collaboration and build on the association’s role as the leading international voice for the sector. That mandate lands in a network that is both global and unusually varied: the non-profit says it represents roughly 600 to nearly 700 industry leaders from mine to market across 47 countries, including miners, cutters, suppliers, retailers, trade associations, gem labs, academia and museums. ICA was founded in 1984, but its origin story reaches back to 1983, when a group of founders set out to respond to changing conditions in the gemstone business and improve communication across the trade.

Dallow arrives from Grandview Klein Diamonds Group, where she serves as chief communications and sustainability officer, and she is also president of Community for Ethical Jewelry, formerly Ethical Metalsmiths. Her career has long sat at the intersection of commerce and accountability. She began in 1999 at J. Walter Thompson working on De Beers’ account in the Diamond Information Center, where she helped craft strategies during the global blood-diamonds crisis. She later became the first female executive in 65 years at Julius Klein Group, and she was elected president of Ethical Metalsmiths effective January 1, 2025.

Her appointment gives ICA a leader whose experience reaches across mining, manufacturing, certification, retail and responsible sourcing. That breadth matters in colored gemstones, where value is increasingly tied not only to hue and rarity, but to the credibility of the story behind a stone. For jewelers, Dallow’s background suggests a sharper push on transparency and stakeholder engagement. For consumers, it points to a category that wants its beauty matched by a clearer account of where stones come from, how they move through the trade and why they deserve confidence in the case.