Rebecca van Rooijen
Meet the Co-Founder and Editor of Benchpeg.
Rebecca van Rooijen MA CMktr FCIM FRSA
Co-founder | Editor
Rebecca is the creator of Benchpeg, she has over 25 years of experience within the jewellery industry (she started young!), her vision was to create a resource where the jewellery trade could share and access resources in order to democratise information.
In addition to editing Benchpeg and the weekly newsletter (which just celebrated its 800th issue) which she created 18 years ago, Rebecca is a Trustee of the Bishopsland Educational Trust and Chair of the Goldsmiths' Fair Advisory Board at The Goldsmiths' Company. She currently sits as Member of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI Committee) at the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and very recently was asked to attend a roundtable meeting with the Shadow Secretart of State for the DCMS to represent the UK Jewellery, Silverware and Allied Crafts.
Previously she sat as a Committee Member on the Communications and Marketing Committee at The Goldsmiths’ Company for eight and a half years, the Communications Sounding Board and the Goldsmiths' Fair Sub-Committee at the Goldsmiths' Company which guided the event from physical to digital in the 2020 in lockdown. Also, she has sat on the Selection Committee for the Goldsmiths' Directory, has been a business mentor for the Crafts Council, and was elected a Committee Member of the Goldsmiths' Craft and Design Council (retired). She sat on many selection panels, competition awards panels and has acted as an industry ambassador for many jewellery industry events.
Rebecca's previous appointments have included being a member of the Senior Management Team having designed and delivered the £18M Goldsmiths’ Centre in Central London; part of the Promotions Team at the Goldsmiths' Company having managed the Goldsmiths' Fair event and Company website; and having delivered the £3.5M Jewellery Sector Investment Plan (JSIP) for London Borough of Camden. She has been consulting the jewellery, silver, allied trades, crafts and creative industries for some 18 years. Consultancy has covered professional development, education, and management consultancy.
She holds a First Class honours degree in Jewellery from Birmingham’s famous School of Jewellery, has an MA in Arts Management from City University as well as a postgraduate diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. She has Chartered Marketer status.
In 2013 she was made a Freeman of the Goldsmiths' Company. She is also a Freeman of the City of London and was awarded elected Livery status by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths for her contribution to industry. She is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, a Fellow of the Institute of Data Marketers and was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in recognition for her contribution to the jewellery industry.
View her LinkedIn profile
