Board of Directors

Stephen Coates – Director
Mr. Coates is a founder and principal of Grove Capital Group, specializing in the incubation and development of new resource companies across the world. Mr. Coates previously founded and served as CEO of TSX-listed Homeland Energy Group and having spent more than 12 years in the resource and financial industries, brings together strengths in business development, communications and finance to create strategic relationships for success. Stephen Coates began his career in investment management and advisory services at RBC Dominion Securities in Canada. Following which he joined Independent Equity Research Corp. as Vice President, Business Development. In 2003, Mr. Coates formed Grove Communications Inc. to provide communications and business development services to small-cap public companies primarily in the mining and resource industry. In 2006, he co-founded Homeland Uranium Inc., which subsequently gave rise to Homeland Energy Group Limited, which he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of from December 2004 to October 2009. Mr. Coates is a graduate of Kings College at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada.

Gerry Gravina – Director
Mr. Gravina began his investment career as an Equities Analyst at Commercial Union Assurance of Canada, an insurance company since acquired by Aviva. From 1980 to 1996, Mr. Gravina held a number of increasingly senior positions in institutional equity agency and liability trading. He was a Vice President and Director at Merrill Lynch Canada, Partner at Loewen Ondaatje McCutcheon, and Vice President and Manager at RBC Dominion Securities in that time period. From 1996 to 2002, Mr. Gravina was Executive Vice President and Managing Partner for Institutional Equities at Gordon Capital Corporation. In late 1998, Gordon Capital was acquired by HSBC Securities Canada, a subsidiary of one of the largest banking and financial services organizations in the world. At HSBC, Mr. Gravina’s responsibilities grew to include equity research and proprietary trading. Mr. Gravina joined National Bank Financial in 2002 as Executive Vice President and Head of Institutional Equities. In 2009, Mr. Gravina founded Visum Capital, a multi- strategy alternative investment management firm, bringing to fruition his unique vision for trading and managing risk in the Canadian marketplace. At Visum, Mr. Gravina is responsible for the firm’s risk policy and management as well as trading Canadian equity strategies. Mr. Gravina holds an Honours Bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto. Mr. Gravina will be devoting 5% of his time to the affairs of the Corporation.

James Garcelon, – Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Garcelon has over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. He began his career at RBC Dominion Securities where he acted in a number of capacities and areas including investment banking, derivatives and quantitative research. In 1997, he joined Pacific Century Group a Hong Kong based private equity fund. Pacific Century was then a strategic investor in Gordon Capital Corporation, which was acquired by HSBC Securities in late 1998. Mr. Garcelon played an instrumental role in the restructuring and merging of the two organizations. He was appointed Managing Director, Institutional Research at HSBC Securities in 2000. In 2003, Mr. Garcelon joined National Bank Financial and was promoted to Managing Director, Head of Institutional Sales in 2005. Currently Mr. Garcelon is a Principal with, and cofounder of, Grove Capital Group a merchant banking group. He recently acted as an advisor to Homeland Energy Group on business development and acquisition opportunities. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds a Masters of Science in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics in addition to a HBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business. Mr. Garcelon will be devoting 50% of his time to the affairs of the Corporation.

William (Bill) Trewick – President and Chief Operating Officer and Director
Mr. Trewick joined Anglo American Corporation as a geologist in 1976.  He worked his way up through the organization culminating with his appointment as Head of Geology for Anglo Gold’s South African operations in 2001 and of the Africa Underground Mines, after its merger with Ashanti. In 2008 he assumed responsibility for AngloGold Ashanti’s Greenfields Exploration in Africa.  Mr. Trewick has presented at both local and international geological conferences; is a Fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa; and, is a member of the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP). He has a BSc Honours degree in Geology and an MBA; he also attended the Ashridge Executive Development Programme in 1998.

Louis Chertkow – Director

Mr. Chertkow has over 30 years of experience in the distribution industry in North America, as principal and Chief Executive Officer.  Currently Mr. Chertkow is the Chief Executive Officer and majority stockholder of a distribution company with distribution centers throughout the United States.  Mr. Chertkow holds a Master Degree in Finance from MIT, Cambridge Massachusetts.