Speakers

Sarin Block Bachmann, Group Vice President of RX, is a member of RX’s Senior Leadership Team and oversees RX’s jewelry portfolio including JCK, Luxury, and JIS events along with the digital and print elements of the JCK brand—JCKonline.com and JCK Magazine.  One of RX’s largest and most important events globally, JCK has thrived under Bachmann’s leadership. Bachmann directly manages JCK while overseeing Event Leaders on both Luxury and JIS and has steered JCK to become an industry leading, award-winning event in the trade show industry, and the most important jewelry buying and educational event globally for the jewelry industry. Luxury, the curated, invitation-only event taking place alongside JCK has also been reimagined under Bachmann’s portfolio as the event for the luxury jewelry community. Under her leadership in event strategy, planning, execution, sales, attendance, acquisition, marketing, public relations, operations and special events, Bachmann has achieved all-time high ratings for both exhibitor and attendee satisfaction, loyalty and net promotion for both JCK and Luxury, increasing scores between 15 to 20% and over 30 points in NPS overall.  As a member of RX’s senior leadership team, Bachmann shapes event leaders across RX US, leading bi-monthly meetings where key issues and best practices are discussed. Bachmann focuses on DE&I, expanding educational content at JCK and fostering partnerships with diverse groups like the Black in Jewelry Coalition. Bachmann currently serves on the executive boards of the American Gem Society, Jewelers’ Security Alliance, 24 Karat Club of New York, Women’s Jewelry Association and UFI Global Congress Advisory, as well as on the GEM Awards committee and chair of the JCK Industry Fund committee.

Peter Rupert is Director of the UCSB Economic Forecast Project. He is a Professor of Economics and is also the Associate Director of the Laboratory of Aggregate Economics and Finance at UCSB with Nobel laureate Finn Kydland. Before joining the Economics faculty he was a Senior Research Advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland for 13 years. His areas of specialization include macroeconomics, monetary economics, and labor and family economics. Prior to joining the Cleveland Fed, he held a variety of teaching positions, including professorships at the University of Western Ontario, the SUNY Buffalo, and West Virginia University. He has also had visiting professorships at the University of Southern California and University of London. Professor Rupert earned his B.S. at Santa Clara University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Rochester. Dr. Rupert is an avid cyclist, and volunteers as the chief economist for the Santa Barbara Zoo. He hosts and presents at the annual UCB Economic Summit each May in Santa Barbara, which draws more than 1,000 attendees.

Gary Shapiro is an acclaimed author, lobbyist, and president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® which represents over 1500 consumer technology companies and owns and produces CES® — The Global Stage for Innovation.  Taking the role of President and CEO, Shapiro evolved the idea of the workplace over his 40-year tenure leading the organization. Directing a staff of 150 employees alongside thousands of industry volunteers, he built a forward-thinking successful business focused on the further development and integration of technology in all industries of the world. Under his leadership, CTA has won numerous awards for its healthy workplace, family friendly employment practices, and environmentally friendly exhibition practices. Shapiro is a New York Times bestselling author, whose books include “Ninja Future: Secrets to Success in the New World of Innovation” (HarperCollins, 2019), “Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses” (HarperCollins, 2013) and “The Comeback: How Innovation will Restore the American Dream” (Beaufort, 2011). Through these books, numerous television appearances, and as a columnist whose more than 1200 opinion pieces have appeared in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post, Shapiro has helped direct policymakers and business leaders on the importance of innovation and technology in the U.S. economy. 

Gary Shapiro holds a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center and a BA in economics and psychology from Binghamton University. He is happily married and lives in Michigan.

Michael Villani is an actor/voice over artist in Los Angeles, and has been since graduating from the University of Missouri with a Broadcast Journalism degree in 1970. After 15 years in radio, Mike started his career in Hollywood as a Page at NBC, where he worked on some classic programs, like The Tonight Show, Laugh In, and Hollywood Squares. He co-starred with Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer in Up Close and Personal, was featured in Volcano with Tommy Lee Jones and Wag the Dog with Robert DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman. He co-starred as Merv Griffin in the Milos Forman film, Man On The Moon, the Andy Kaufman story, starring Jim Carrey, as well as appearing in Jim’s blockbuster Bruce Almighty. He was also featured in The Girl Next Door, and can be seen with Jamie Foxx and Beyoncé Knowles in Dreamgirls. Mike played himself in the Christian Bale hit VICE as the Ditech.com mortgage company Spokesman. He was seen as the newscaster in the Trailer helping to promote Universal’s blockbuster Cocaine Bear. Mike’s television credits include co-starring roles in hits like Criminal Minds, CSI and Fresh Off the Boat. Mike was the announcer for the Hollywood Film Festival for 18 years, and was the Venue announcer for Indoor Volleyball at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece and in the same capacity in the summer of 2008, at the Olympics in Beijing, China. Mike was in Vancouver for the Winter Olympics, in 2010, as the Venue announcer for Figure Skating and was the English announcer in Olympic Park at The Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, 2014. He was the announcer for Indoor Volleyball at the Arab Games in Doha, Qatar in 2011, and the Announcer for the FIVB World League Finals in Rio in July of 2015 and in August, 2015, Mike was the Beach Volleyball Announcer for The World Games, Special Olympics in Los Angeles. In May, 2016 he was in Orlando, Florida, announcing at the Invictus Games. In Rio for the 2016 Olympic Games, Mike was the Venue announcer for Indoor Volleyball and again for Sitting Volleyball at the Paralympics. He was the PA, Stadium1, announcer for the BNP Paribas Tennis Tournament, for two years, in Indian Wells, California. He also worked the Warrior Games at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, where he announced the Opening and Closing Ceremony and the Sitting Volleyball competition. Mike was in Lima, Peru in August 2019, as the PA announcer for Softball at the Pan American Games. In 2021 he announced Sitting Volleyball at the Paralympics, in Tokyo, Japan, and in November of that year, was the Gymnastics announcer at the Junior Pan American Games, in Cali, Colombia. In June of 2022, Mike announced the USA Gymnastics National Finals in Des Moines, Iowa. And in July of that year was the Venue announcer for Gymnastics at the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama. Mike is “Inside the Ropes” with the PGA, as a starter at the Genesis Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club, in Los Angeles. Mike “voiced” the characters of Peach Wilkins in the game “BIOSHOCK” and Lord Ignatius in “WORLD OF WARCRAFT”! Commercially, Mike was the national spokesman for DiTech.com for eleven years and the international voice for Warner Brothers Television, just to name a few of his long list of credits. He’s the Voice of the Anaheim Police Department, where he’s been a Technical Reserve for the past 41 years. He was honored with the Reserve Officer of the Year Award for 2016. Mike is also the Master of Ceremonies for many corporate, charitable events and golf tournaments in and around Southern California