Awards 2025

John Berg is an artist who has worked in jewelry, ceramics, and sculpture for 50 years. He grew up in Harvard, Illinois and attended Northern Illinois University Arts Program where he was invited to be an apprentice for his jewelry professor, Lee Peck. In his early twenties he won multiple jewelry competitions in the state of Hawaii and was published in Modern Jeweler Magazine. Since then, he has used his skills and talents working for custom jewelers and major luxury brands and manufacturers. He retired in May of 2022 as VP of Manufacturing Excellence for David Yurman. Making pottery, sculptures, and painting now fills his time, though he maintains a consultany, John Berg Solutions, for the jewelry industry. John recently started a small studio called Hair of the Dog Ceramics making ceramic and silver jewelry, pottery, and sculptures using a Raku technique with pet hair. 

John Berg is an artist who has worked in jewelry, ceramics, and sculpture for 50 years. He grew up in Harvard, Illinois and attended Northern Illinois University Arts Program where he was invited to be an apprentice for his jewelry professor, Lee Peck. In his early twenties he won multiple jewelry competitions in the state of Hawaii and was published in Modern Jeweler Magazine. Since then, he has used his skills and talents working for custom jewelers and major luxury brands and manufacturers. He retired in May of 2022 as VP of Manufacturing Excellence for David Yurman. Making pottery, sculptures, and painting now fills his time, though he maintains a consultany, John Berg Solutions, for the jewelry industry. John recently started a small studio called Hair of the Dog Ceramics making ceramic and silver jewelry, pottery, and sculptures using a Raku technique with pet hair. 

Mr. Ramarao Ilavarapu possesses almost 30 years of diverse experience spanning industrial, white goods, cutting tools, fashion, and luxury goods sectors. He has extensive experience in production management, manufacturing engineering, project management, supply chain management, and product development. Presently, he serves as the Senior Vice-President (Operations) & Director at Sunjewels Pvt Ltd. He is a certified Independent Director & Fellow member of Institute of Directors (F.IOD) He has pioneered numerous systems and innovations like robotic application in processes like ceramic & enamel application, texturing, sprue grinding and lapping in jewellery manufacturing. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering and earned a Postgraduate degree in Industrial Engineering & Management from JNTU, Hyderabad. Additionally, he holds a Certificate in Strategic Management from Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management from NMIMS, Mumbai. He received the Business Innovation Award for his technical paper on "Implementation of Tablets & Vision System for Measuring Jewellery Quality, Productivity and Knowledge" at the 2019 Santa Fe Symposium. He also spoke at the first Jewelry Symposium in  2023, extending his involvement to the community. In addition, he won the All-India Prize from the KAIZEN Institute for Value Stream Implementation in 2014.

Tai has been with PGI China for more than 12 years, working with partners from jewellery manufacturing to retailers as Director for Trade Development and for Innovation and Product Development. He now takes up an international role at PGI on Global Innovation Development. His key objectives are to expand platinum jewellery business through the implementation of novel technology, through collaborations, and by developing new market opportunities through new consumer segmentations. Tai is also an active creator on the PlatinumABC channel that endeavors the gathering of platinum expertise from around the world for innovation and education purposes.

Arturo Sanfelix graduated in Fine Arts from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain and with a Degree in Design and Creative Technologies from the University of Applied Sciences Fachhochschule in Mainz, Germany. From his jewelry studio he creates unique pieces for private clients, trying to make jewelry with a unique nature, respecting the classic canons of the traditional craftmanship and with a strong avant-garde spirit. Sanfelix combines innovation and tradition to create unique pieces of the highest quality. His pieces have been recognized in international jewelry competitions such as the Saul Bell Design Award in the United States (2017 winner) and the Milan Jewelry Week in Italy (2022 winner).

Mike Magee is an award-winning jewelry CAD designer with over 15 years of experience teaching CAD to the jewelry industry. After graduating from Cornell University with a BS in Communications, Mike trained as a goldsmith, apprenticing with jewelry designer George Sawyer. He then created and ran his own custom jewelry business before joining the Jewelry Manufacturing Arts department at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). In his position as Senior Subject Specialist at GIA, he divides his time between leading curriculum development for GIA’s Jewelry Manufacturing Arts courses, researching new developments in CAD/CAM, and teaching.  

Dr. Corti holds a Ph.D. in metallurgy from the University of Surrey (UK) and is the managing director of COReGOLD Technology Consultancy. He has more than 45 years of experience in the precious metals industry, initially with Johnson Matthey at their Research Centre. He worked for the World Gold Council from 1994 to 2004 and served as a consultant there until 2009. Chris edited Gold Technology, Gold Bulletin and the series of World Gold Council handbooks/manuals. He is currently a consultant for the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. Dr. Corti presented at the Santa Fe Symposium® for 24 years and is a recipient of the Santa Fe Symposium Research, Technology, Ambassador and Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Valentina Allodi is the R&D Manager at Progold S.p.A in Trissino, Italy. She holds a Master’s degree in Materials Science from the University of Parma and a PhD in Nanotechnology from the University of Verona. In 2011 she obtained a research fellowship at the University of Verona and was a researcher there until 2015. In the same year she started her collaboration with Progold. From the beginning, her work has been focused on innovation and research in the field of precious metal additive manufacturing, and from 2020 to 2022 she has been CTO of Progol3D, Progold's business unit for additive manufacturing. Since the beginning of 2023 she has held the current position of R&D Manager at Progold. Valentina has contributed to many of Progold's presentations at the Santa Fe Symposium®, in planning, research, and writing.

Anne Miller is a business transformation consultant with over thirty years experience helping companies improve performance through process improvement. Her projects include digital transformation, radical process simplification and organization and culture change across marketing, sales and sales support, supply chain and customer service business functions. Her current engagement is with Herff Jones, an American company that manufactures and sells educational recognition and achievement products and motivational materials. There she is consulting with the Jewelry Division’s customer service team on multiple projects to improve efficiencies and quality. Anne is a Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt with additional skills in Design Thinking and Agile methodologies. She is a recipient of the Santa Fe Symposium® “Business Innovation” award, and recognized three times at IBM with an “Eminence and Excellence in Innovation” award.