Blake Hylands
Director
Mr. Hylands is a Professional Geoscientist with over a decade of experience in advanced and early-stage exploration. Mr. Hylands is currently the Senior Vice President of Exploration for Troilus Gold Corp. where he has built and led a substantial technical team to the discovery of over eight million gold equivalent ounces at their development stage asset in northern Quebec. He has successfully trained and managed large teams with a focus in gold, base metals, and iron ore in Canada and internationally including South America and Europe. He has held numerous board positions for junior mining companies and has extensive professional experience in capital markets and community outreach including executive roles in corporate development and communications with First Nations. Mr. Hylands has a B.Sc in Geology from the University of Western in London Ontario.
Hélio Diniz
Director
Mr. Diniz, has 40 years of experience with exploration and mining activities and has served as the Managing Director of Brazil Potash Corp. since July 2009. Mr. Diniz started his career with GENCOR South Africa where he was involved in the evaluation and development of the Sao Bento gold mine in Brazil currently operated by Eldorado Gold Corp. He then went on to work for Xstrata (now Glencore) as Managing Director Brazil during which he discovered the world class Araguaia Nickel Deposit (over 100 million tonnes, 1.5% Ni). He then went on to set up several companies, such as Falcon Metais and HDX Consultoria, as an entrepreneur to identify, explore and develop mining opportunities in Brazil. During this time, he founded and developed several companies for the Forbes & Manhattan Inc. group in different commodities such as potash – Brazil Potash, phosphate – Aguia Metais, gold – Belo Sun Mining and oil shale – Irati Petroleo e Energia Ltda.
Patrizia Ferrarese
Director
Ms. Ferrarese has more than 20 years of experience in capital markets, entrepreneurship, and strategy consulting. She is currently Vice President (VP) of Business Design and Innovation at Investment Planning Counsel (IPC), overseeing strategic growth initiatives in wealth management. Prior to joining IPC as VP of Product Management, Ms. Ferrarese held senior roles in product management and performance optimization at Tangerine Bank and Praxair, with responsibility for strategic growth across Canada. Her management consulting experience includes engagements in South America and EMEA spanning graphite, oil and gas, and potash industries focused on identifying new market opportunities. Her career includes equity and options market making and trading in North America, culminating in portfolio and commodity trading manager roles as co-founder of an investment management company. Beyond her professional career, Ms. Ferrarese mentors case competition teams at the Rotman School of Management and is a Volunteer Advisor with the Canadian Executive Service Organization (CESO). Ms. Ferrarese is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Business Administration at SDA Bocconi and holds an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Economics from York University.
David Gower
Director
Mr. Gower has held Executive and Director positions with several junior and midsize mining companies for the past 12 years, including Chief Executive Officer and Director of Emerita Resources, Nobel Resources and President of Brazil Potash Corp. David spent over 20 years with Falconbridge (now Glencore) as Director of Global Nickel and PGM exploration and as a member of the Senior Operating Team for mining projects and operations. He led exploration teams that made brownfield discoveries at Raglan and Sudbury, Matagami, Falcondo, in the Dominican Republic, and greenfield discoveries at Araguaia in Brazil, Kabanga in Tanzania and Amazonas in Brazil. Mr. Gower is a Director of Alamos Gold.Lawrence Guy
Director
Larry Guy is a Managing Director with Next Edge Capital focused on driving the business forward via strategic partnerships, initiatives, and sourcing of new product ideas. Previously, Mr. Guy was a Vice President with Purpose Investments having joined the firm in its infancy and saw vast growth prior to his departure. Prior to Purpose, Mr. Guy was a Portfolio Manager with Aston Hill Financial Inc. Prior to Aston Hill Larry Guy was Chief Financial Officer and Director of Navina Asset Management Inc., a company he co-founded that was subsequently acquired by Aston Hill Financial Inc. Mr. Guy holds a BA (Economics) degree from the University of Western Ontario and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.Michael Shuh
Director
Mr. Shuh is a Managing Director, Investment Banking, at Canaccord Genuity. Mr. Shuh has over 20 years of investment banking experience and leads the Financial Institutions Group at Canaccord Genuity, Canada's largest independent investment bank. In addition to covering traditional financial institutions, Mr. Shuh has deep expertise in structured finance and special purpose acquisition corporations (SPACs). Mr. Shuh is also is the CEO and Chairman of Canaccord Genuity Growth II Corp., a publicly-listed SPAC that raised $100MM to pursue acquisitions. Mr. Shuh received an Honours, Bachelor of Business Administration from the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University and a Masters of Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University.