Vartkess Knadjian

Vartkess Knadjian (born 12 January 1955) is an English Armenian entrepreneur and businessman, and the current CEO of the oldest diamond company in the world, Backes and Strauss. ^[1]

Career

The son of a watchmaker, Knadjian joined Backes & Strauss in 1976, and was appointed CEO in 2001. He says, “I joined Backes & Strauss, London, as a trainee and was sent to Belgium to learn the trade – to polish, sort, value and price diamonds. That took me all of five years to learn. I went on to stay in Belgium for 30 years – and I am still learning! Within six years, I was running the Antwerp office, taking the company from a small buying office to a major international diamond company. I became the Managing Director in 2001.” ^[2]

Personal life

Knadjian was educated at Kingswood School, in Bath, and studied International Relations at the LSE. He is married with two children.

References