Lifetime Achievement Awards

Eddie Bell

Retired: Rio Grande/Santa Fe Symposium

Eddie Bell grew up in the jewelry business, learning the trade from his father, a master jeweler and the founder of Rio Grande Jewelers Supply in Albuquerque, New Mexico. During his 50 years working in the family company, Eddie focused on the manufacturing and engineering side of the business. Believing education is the key to growth and that sharing information between practitioners would be the fastest way to advance our industry knowledge in a rapidly changing environment, he co-founded the annual Santa Fe Symposium on Jewelry Manufacturing Technology in 1987 with his friend Dave Schneller. The proceedings from the 34 meetings of the Santa Fe Symposium are published in 30 books. He has served on the board of MJSA and presented technical papers on jewelry casting all over the world. His articles have been published in leading jewelry business magazines worldwide including Gold Technology. In 2006, he was inducted as an honorary associate of The Goldsmiths Company in London.

Dr. Christopher W. Corti

COReGOLD Technology Consultancy

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.

Dennis Busby & Randy Welch

Stuller

Dennis “Buzz” Busby and Randy Welch have been both colleagues and longtime friends. In 2024, both honorees retired from Stuller, Mr. Welch (Senior Tech Process Engineer) in August after 43 years of service and Mr. Busby (Casting Director) in December after 41 years. Founded in 1970, Stuller is a leading manufacturer, supplier, and technology developer located in Lafayette, Louisiana, USA, and both gentlemen joined the company in the 1980s. In addition to their decades of work at Stuller, both awardees have been lifetime devotees to progress and information sharing in the jewelry industry, including co-authoring papers and supporting SFS and TJS.