the Scottish Gemmological association CONFERENCE, 2026
SPEAKERS
Shelly sergent
Shelly Sergent has spent nearly 45 years in the jewelry industry. Starting at age 16 as a holiday season gift wrap girl for Zales Jewelers, She quickly realized her passion for fine gems, design and first class client services. She learned the business of the jewelry industry, climbing the ranks from gift wrap gal to sales, service, philanthropy and eventually management. She came to understand the study of fine gems, jewelry making and learning to recognize the finishing details that separate handcrafted, designer pieces of jewelry from a streamline manufactured piece…both of which are important to jewelry lovers the world over.
Shelly worked hard to establish herself as an industry ‘go to girl’ for fine, rare colored gems and design. She has had the privilege of working with some of today's top design houses and is grateful for the mentoring, time and shared passion she’s learned from brokers, designers and collectors from around the world.
Shelly’s philosophy has proven tried and true over the years: to build, nurture and maintain relationships with clients and suppliers by being honest and transparent in all aspects of doing business and establishing long standing relationships. Shelly understands that the sale isn’t always the pinnacle of her work but understanding what each person’s needs are will bring success, fun and a sharing of the
intimate nature of the jewelry world.
Shelly currently is the curator for a world class gem and jewelry collection, Somewhere In The Rainbow with the mission to bring hands on education, understanding and appreciation of fine colored gems and artisan crafted jewelry to museums, retail stores and educational facilities dedicated to enjoying and appreciating the rarity, beauty and value of these gems and master artisan’s works.
Shelly is the proud recipient of the 2022 AGS Sallie Morton award and 2023 AGTA Leon Ritzler achievement award. She has presented and exhibited in places such as The Smithsonian Natural History Affiliate Museums, Harvard and University of Arizona. Shelly has been the keynote speaker at multiple gemological events including the 100 Year Celebration of Gem-A in London, Germany and Scottish
Gemological Associations.
Shelly served as a regular education specialist for JTV and is a popular presenter for GIA/AGS Alumni Guilds. She serves the University of Arizona Board of Advisers for the Alfie Norville Gem and Mineral Museum, dedicated to the science, rarity and beauty of minerals, gems and jewelry, in Tucson, AZ. Where there are gemstones and enthusiastic people of the trade, you will most likely also find Shelly.
Somewhere In The Rainbow are members of AGTA, AGS, WJA, Gem-A of Great Britain and JSA.
ROBERT WELDON
Robert Weldon most recently served as the director of GIA’s Richard T. Liddicoat Gemological Library in Carlsbad, California, where he led a team of librarians and subject matter experts. He positioned the library to be a critical archive for researchers and students and the trade, but also a significant content producer, much of it digitized, providing greater access. Weldon is the recipient of the 2020 Antonio C. Bonanno Award for Excellence in Gemology.
As a writer and photographer for Gems & Gemology, GIA’s scholarly publication, Robert sees and handles superb gemological treasures from around the world. Using his gift for photography and storytelling, he often writes feature, peer-reviewed articles for the journal. His images have enriched numerous articles in G&G and other publications and books. He counts over 40 covers of the journal to his name.
Weldon has been involved in the production of several books, including Splendour & Science of Pearls, which he co-authored and edited. A Rough Guide for Artisanal Miners is an educational book which he has also delivered and lectured with to artisanal miners in Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, and other East African countries; this as a part of GIAs Artisanal mining program, funded through its Endowment.
He is currently collaborating on a series of books for the noted Somewhere in the Rainbow Collection.
BEATRIZ CHADOUR-SAMPSON
Based in England, Beatriz Chadour-Sampson is an international jewellery historian, author and lecturer.
Her publications range from the Classical world to the present day and include her doctoral thesis on the Italian goldsmith Antonio Gentili da Faenza (1980), catalogues for the jewellery collection of the Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Cologne (1985 and introduction 2024) and for the rings in the Alice and Louis Koch Collection, Switzerland (1994 and 2019).
She was consultant curator for the redesign of the William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and guest curator of its Pearls exhibition (2013-14), as well as curator of the Alice and Louis Koch Collection display in the Swiss National Museum, Zurich and Gübelin Gem Museum, Lucerne.
ROLAnd Schluessel
Roland Schluessel was born in Switzerland but spent the first 8 years of his childhood in Milan, Italy. As a teenager, he moved back to the French part of Switzerland, were he graduated in business, marketing, and workforce management. When 6 years old, Roland had started his mineral collection, a passion that led him later to graduate in gemmology in Idar-Oberstein. In 1985, he was awarded the Rayner Prize from the Gem-A.
Roland was a senior director of the gemstone and jewellery department of the largest jewellery and watch company in Switzerland, and a member of its board of directors. During his many travels to South America, Africa, and Asia, Roland captured more than 300,000 pictures of gem mining and gemstones. His presentations have been valued in many countries throughout the world. But his real passion was the close encounter with volcanic eruptions.
Roland has extensively visited Myanmar and is the author of the book “Mogok – Myanmar, A Journey to the Finest Rubies and Sapphires in the World” (2002; in German language). He has also written dozens of articles in specialized publications and is co-author of the book “Jade – a Gemologist’s Guide” edited by Richard Hughes in 2022. Roland is also on the advisory board of the Gemguide published by Gemworld International.
In the 1990’s, Roland had the opportunity to spend several days in the three Paraiba tourmalines mines that were active at that time.
Roland is the owner of THE 7 KEY COLORS, a company specializing in importing and wholesaling fine gemstones.
JOHN BRADSHAW
John Bradshaw is a gemmologist (GIA-GG) and gemstone cutter. With a BS degree in Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts (1979) and geology from Salem State College (1981), he began his cutting career on a part-time basis in 1979.
In a short period of time, he launched his business, John J. Bradshaw, full time as a faceter and wholesale dealer of a wide variety of gems from jewellery type stones to the soft, difficult to cut collector gems. In 1987, he formed Coast to Coast Rare Stones with Mike Gray and Art Grant and later Brad Wilson.
John has worked as a consultant on many gem projects both in the United States and internationally in Pakistan, Russia and the Central African Republic, John had a 20 year tenure as an Associate at the Harvard Mineralogical Museum curating the gem collection in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
He has many published articles including writing the Gem Notes section for GemWorld International’s GemGuide from 2013-2025.
John is a member of AGS (American Gem Society) as well as AGTA (American Gem Trade Association), where he currently serves on the Board as Secretary.
Sia Åkerlund
Sia Åkerlund is a Swedish valuer and gemmologist working for Scandinavia’s largest pawnbroker, Pantbanken Sverige. She is Vice President of the Swedish Gemmological Association (SGRF), a committee member of the Swedish Valuers Association (SVG) and the Jewellery Valuers Association (JVA), and a member of CIBJO’s newly established Valuation Working Group.
Sia’s fascination with gemstones began at the age of nine, when a newly opened New Age shop in her neighbourhood displayed colourful crystals in its window - sparking a lifelong passion for gems that has only deepened with time. Today, her work focuses on valuation, gem identification, and the intersection of craftsmanship, materials, and market value.
She lives in Stockholm with her husband, children, and two cats, and spends a significant amount of her free time doing what she loves most, studying gemstones, drinking coffee, doing yoga - and, admittedly, watching makeup tutorials on YouTube.
MIRANDA WELLS - TBC
PAT DALY
Pat Daly FGA is a senior gemmology instructor at Gem-A and has been an independent valuer since 1984. He started his trade career with James Walker Ltd (a multiple retail jeweller), and took the N.A.G. and Gem-A courses during this time.
He began his gemmological studies under the tutelage of renowned gemmologist Basil Anderson. He then worked for David Harris Ltd (a manufacturer/second-hand jewellery dealer) in Hatton Garden,eventually joining Gem-A as a gemmology instructor in 1993.