Founder | Responsible Jewelry Transformative | Chicago Responsible Jewelry Conference | Susan Wheeler Design

Susan Wheeler is a jewelry designer and a responsible jewelry advocate who works to bring people together from across the global jewelry supply chain to participate equally in the transformation the jewelry industry to be more equitable and responsible.  She is the founder of the Responsible Jewelry Transformative, NFP, including initiative Marange Women’s alliance, the Chicago Responsible Jewelry Conference, has jewelry brand Susan Wheeler Design, is a founding partner of Virtu Gem, and is on the advisory committee of the United Nations Fashion and Lifestyle Network.

Brandee Dallow is Chief Communications and Sustainability Officer at Grandview Klein Diamonds and the founder of Fine Girl Communications, a marketing consultancy helping businesses align their values, strategy, and storytelling to build trust and impact. A respected leader and advocate in the global jewelry industry, she currently serves as Board President of the Community for Ethical Jewelry and is a past President of the Women’s Jewelry Association (WJA) and the WJA Foundation. Brandee also sits on the boards of Jewelers for Children, the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, the U.S. Kimberley Process Authority, and serves as an advisor to the Black in Jewelry Coalition. 

Mkhululi Nkosilamandla Ncube is the Programmes Officer at the African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC), a specialized agency of the African Union. In this role, he provides strategic operational support and coordination for the implementation of the Africa Mining Vision, its Action Plan as well as other AMV implementation tools with the latest being the African Green Minerals Strategy(AGMS) in addition to the minerals segment of the African Union Commodity Strategy. 

Mkhululi also oversees the Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) portfolio at AMDC, where he is currently leading the African Gemstone, Jewellery Exhibition and Conference (AGJEC) series, which spans multiple events across the continent. With close to 20 years of minerals development experience, Mkhululi has held various roles in development, knowledge management, and policy research at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Development Policy Management Forum (DPMF). His work has covered natural resources management, regional integration, trade, youth, and women empowerment. Additionally, Mkhululi has a separate background as a farmer, a small-scale mining beneficial owner, and an entrepreneur, having been recognized as a Start-upper of the Year and a multiple international finalist in community-based social enterprise competitions.

Lauren Fortgang has spent over fifteen years working on human rights, atrocity prevention and civilian protection. As the Co-Founder and Director of PAEMA - Preventing and Ending Mass Atrocities, she works to support communities in Sudan, DRC and Myanmar to prevent and end mass atrocities, pursue justice, and build foundations for sustainable peace. PAEMA works at the intersection between local communities and international stakeholders to ensure that those directly affected by conflict are also directly involved in developing strategies and solutions for lasting change.

Lauren was formerly the director of the Never Again Coalition and serves on WorldOregon's Advisory Board. In addition to her work with PAEMA, she's the co-owner of Le Pigeon and Canard restaurants in Portland, Oregon. Prior to her work on atrocity prevention, she was a professional pastry chef for over a decade.

Dr. Allison Aldous is the Director of Freshwater Fisheries at The Nature Conservancy, where she provides global leadership and technical expertise on freshwater fisheries in Latin America and Africa. Her work spans major transboundary basins, such as the Amazon, the Okavango, and Lake Tanganyika, where she supports partners in advancing sustainable fisheries and freshwater conservation. A central aspect of her approach is deep collaboration with Indigenous peoples, local communities, governments, and regional institutions. Her team advocates for equitable, rights-based governance of freshwater resources, achieved through local solutions.

Dr. Aldous leads The Nature Conservancy’s global efforts to quantify, mitigate, and reduce the impacts of mercury pollution from gold mining, with a particular focus on protecting freshwater biodiversity and fisheries. Her technical expertise also encompasses community-based conservation, groundwater dependent ecosystems, wetland restoration, environmental flow assessment, landscape-scale freshwater mapping and modeling, and the impacts of climate change on aquatic biodiversity. Additionally, she is deeply committed to translating science into policy, from the local to the global level.

Dr. Aldous works closely with partners from local, national, and international agencies, as well as NGOs and academic researchers. She holds a Ph.D. in Wetland Hydrology and Biogeochemistry from Cornell University, a Master’s degree in Plant Sciences, and a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from McGill University. She is fluent in English, French, and Spanish and lives in Calgary, Canada.

Senior Principal Consultant at The Biodiversity Consultancy,

Buga leads TBC's global work in the watch and jewellery sector—helping luxury brands, high-end watchmakers, jewellery companies and midstream suppliers navigate nature-related risks and build resilient, nature-positive strategies. Buga's mission is to empower the sector to understand and act on its nature impacts and dependencies—translating science into strategy, and guiding companies through sustainable transformation needed to build resilient businesses in a nature positive future.

Network Director, Amazon Gold Alliance (AGA)

Christina T. Miller is Network Director of the Amazon Gold Alliance, Amazon Aid's multi stakeholder network addressing the social, environmental, and economic impacts of gold mining in the Amazon. She leads the network's strategic coordination, governance, and member engagement. For over two decades, Christina has worked to transform the gold and jewelry industries from within. An artist and jeweler trained in the U.S. and Italy, she holds an MFA, has taught at the university level, co-founded the Community for Ethical Jewelry (formerly Ethical Metalsmiths), and led a consultancy on sustainable jewelry practices. A natural connector, she builds collaborations that drive systemic change.

Eric C. Braunwart is president and owner of Columbia Gem House, Inc., which he founded in 1976, and a partner in Sustain Associates since May 2010. He holds a BS in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design and a BA in Fine Arts Jewelry Design from Washington State University (1975). He spent about 10 years traveling to gem producing countries, working with mining and cutting facilities.

Concerned that the colored gemstone industry was not a level playing field, he developed Quality Assurance and Fair Trade protocols addressing economic, ecological and humanitarian issues, as well as product integrity, fraud and misrepresentation. Columbia Gem House and Sustain Associates follow these protocols so that everyone along the supply chain is treated honestly and ethically, and so that the earth is left as it was found.

Through Fair Trade Gems, the company offers transparent supply chains and addresses disclosure, treatment and synthetic stones sold as natural. It educates consumers, retailers and dealers so that they can make informed choices, even when that means exposing hazardous labor conditions and child labor.

Mr. Braunwart is a founding member of the American Gem Trade Association (1981), now the largest wholesale gemstone dealer organization in the United States. He served on its Board of Directors for approximately 20 years, holding the roles of President, Vice President, Marketing Chairperson and Secretary.

Diogo Cinta Larga is a biologist and Indigenous researcher from the Cinta Larga people. He lives in the Pazap village, Roosevelt Indigenous Land, in Rondônia, Brazil. He holds a master's degree in Ecology from the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA) and is a PhD candidate in Ecology at the same institute. His work links Indigenous knowledge and science to support environmental conservation and Indigenous communities.

Alex Cuadros is a journalist and author who has spent most of his career reporting from Brazil. He is the author of "Brazillionaires," a Financial Times best book of 2016, and "When We Sold God's Eye," a finalist for the 2025 California Book Awards. He has also written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and Harper's, among others, and he is now a climate reporter at ProPublica, based in San Francisco.

VP Sustainability & Social Impact | Mejuri, Inc.

Holly McHugh, the VP of Sustainability and Social Impact of Mejuri, is a highly experienced Sustainability and Responsible Sourcing leader and change-agent with a deep understanding of emerging and social issues. In May 2023, Holly led the brand in launching their first Sustainability report, alongside a $1.5M USD partnership with RESOLVE’s Regeneration.

Prior to Mejuri, Holly made an impactful career in specific sector expertise and innovative leadership in global luxury, retail, capability building, assessments, and consulting. While managing multi-cultural and multi-generational teams in Asia, Europe and the U.S. at brands such as Tiffany and Co. and Kering, Holly  successfully directed stakeholder engagement, collaborations, issue analysis, remediation, supply chain management and policy.

Maluti Community Development Forum; Lesotho Representative to the Kimberly Process Civil Society Coalition

Thabo is a human rights lawyer and member of the Maluti Community Development Forum (MCDF). He has been working with the community of Mokhotlong, Lesotho to bring justice as they have had their water rights abused. He represents Lesotho as a member of the The Working Group on Artisanal and Alluvial Production (WGAAP).

Luis E. Fernandez is a Research Professor of Biology at Wake Forest University and a Senior Fellow at the Sabin Center for Environment and Sustainability. He also serves as Executive Director of the Centro de Innovación Científica Amazónica (CINCIA) — the Center for Amazonian Scientific Innovation — a nonprofit research center in the Peruvian Amazon focused on the environmental impacts of artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). An international expert on mercury pollution from gold mining, Luis studies how mercury contaminates ecosystems and harms wildlife, threatening biodiversity and indigenous communities in Latin America and tropical Africa. Over more than two decades, he has advised governments, multilateral agencies, and civil society on strategies to reduce mercury use and improve the transparency and responsibility of global gold supply chains. He has held positions with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Stanford University, the Carnegie Institution for Science, and Argonne National Laboratory. 

Jay Moncada is a 3rd generation Gems trader with roots in Colombia, birthplace of the finest emeralds in the world.

He is the owner of Perpetuum Jewels, the only US company with a continued standing certification as Responsible Source to the Trade and for their Post-Consumer Recycled Gemstones and parcels by SCS global services.  Perpetuum’s inventory comprises diamonds and colored gemstones salvaged from post-consumer jewelry and are particular in their historical faceting/cut styles. Every gem carries complete provenance information based on its age and former jeweled “home”.

Jay also promotes responsible sourcing practices in the jewelry industry by active participation and education in many industry initiatives and also serves as a board member and treasurer of Community for Ethical Jewelry (Formerly Ethical Metalsmiths).