Management & Directors

Management

Ron MacMicken – President & Chief Executive Officer

  • President & CEO of Birch Island Capital Inc., a merchant banking firm focused on investments and advisory services in the natural resource, real estate, infrastructure, and diversified industry.
  • Director of Sintana Energy (TSXV:SNN) a public junior oil company with assets in South America.
  • Director of Tolima Gold (TSXV:TOM), a private gold exploration company with assets in Colombia.
  • Director of Delavaco Properties, a private real estate investment company in Florida, USA.
  • Former Managing Director, Investment Banking at Canaccord Genuity Corp. and Director, Investment Banking at Cormark Securities Inc. with a focus on international oil and gas.
  • 12 years of capital markets and advisory experience in Toronto, London and Calgary, with BMO Nesbitt Burns, Credit Suisse First Boston and National Bank Financial covering various sectors and financial products.

 

John Martin – Chief Financial Officer

  • John Martin is currently President and CEO of Shaljero Advisors Inc. The company is an integrator of professionals dedicated to assisting private and public entities and their advisors in accessing capital markets and managing acquisitions and divestitures.
  • Mr. Martin’s involvement in the finance and merger and acquisition activities often results in interim CFO and directorship roles. He has assisted clients in establishing and integrating operations in the U.S. Europe and for the past three years primarily in the resource industries in Colombia, South America.
  • Mr. Martin is the former CFO of APO Energy Inc. a $165 million private oil and gas explorer and producer in Colombia, and assisted with the successful merger of APO Energy Inc. with P1 Energy Corp, ($450 million in 2010). He is also currently a Director of a private Colombian oil and gas exploration company.

 

David Birnie – Chief Geoscience

  • Founder and President of Geoseis Inc., a Calgary based geological and geophysical consulting firm.
  • Prior to co-founding Geoseis, spent 22 years with Chevron Canada as a geophysicist and geologist, and from 1990-1995 served as Manager of Planning for Chevron Canada Resources.
  • Specialist in project framing/planning and geological and geophysical interpretation.
  • Has worked as lead consultant on a diverse set of assignments with a specialty in international exploration projects, both onshore and offshore.

 

Stephen Balog – Chief Engineering

  • Thirty eight years of experience in the oil and gas industry in production and exploration operations, petroleum engineering, property evaluations and mergers/acquisitions.
  • During the past fourteen years he has founded and been a principal or director of several junior oil companies and consulting firms including Belaire Energy Corporation, Niven Fischer Balog Energy Management, Tasman Exploration and West Butte Energy Inc.
  • Director of Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd., a public company with 25,000 boepd of production in Western Canada. He also serves on the Petroleum Advisory Committee of the Alberta Securities Commission and is a member of several industry associations including the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers.

 

Pedro Diaz – Geology

  • Pedro has over 32 years experience in the Colombian oil industry.
  • He was with Texaco for 20 years dealing with exploration / development project evaluation and economic risk, and directly involved with negotiating with Ecopetrol, ANH, Fondo Nacional del Petroleo, and other domestic and international oil companies.
  • Pedro has extensive experience in the evaluation of Colombian oil and gas fields. Before joining Quetzal Pedro providing technical consulting services for many companies (Perenco, Petrobras, Conequipos, Montecz, Ecopetrol and Cepcolsa) in Guajira, Putimayo, Middle and Upper Magdalena, Llanos, and Catatumbo Basins.

 

Directors

Andrew DeFrancesco – Executive Chairman

  • Chairman & CEO of Delavaco Capital Inc., a private equity and merchant banking group with a primary focus on natural resources.
  • Founder, Chairman & CEO of Colcan Energy – a Canadian Oil and Gas Company.
  • Director of Tolima Gold (TSXV:TOM), a public gold exploration company with assets in Colombia.
  • Chairman and CEO of Delavaco Properties – a real estate investment firm specializing in the acquisition of distressed properties throughout the United States of America.
  • Co-Founder and former Chairman & CEO of APO Energy.
  • Co-Founder, and former Chairman & CEO of P1 Energy Corp, a Colombian oil and gas exploration, development and production company.
  • Founder (2007) and former Chairman & CEO of Dalradian Mining (DNA-TSX), an Irish based gold mining company producing high grade 2.7M ounce gold resources.
  • Founder and Executive Chairman of Delavaco Energy, sold to PetroMagdalena for $100mm (2009).

 

Ron MacMicken – President & Chief Executive Officer

  • See Management.

 

Gerry Feldman – Director (Audit Committe Chair)

  • Many years in the investment community and has specialized in audits of brokerage houses, public companies, investment councilor and limited market dealers, mutual fund dealers and mutual funds.
  • Currently VP & CFO of Pinetree Capital Ltd.
  • CFO of Mega Uranium Ltd.

 

Doug Manner – Director (Reserves Committe Chair)

  • Mr. Manner is the Chief Executive Officer for Sintana Energy, a public oil and gas exploration company traded on the TSX Venture Exchange. The company has a portfolio of exploration projects in the prolific Magdalena Basins in Colombia and the Sechura Basin in Peru.
  • Mr. Manner is a founding partner of Northbrook Energy LLC, prior to which he acted as Chief Executive Officer and Director of Westside Energy, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Kosmos Energy, LLC (a private energy company exploring for oil and gas in the offshore regions of West Africa), and as President and Chief Operating Officer of White Stone Energy, a Houston based oil and gas advisory firm.
  • He is the Former COO of Gulf Canada Resources, managing operations in 20 countries with 150,000 boepd and the former CEO of Bellwether Resources, (South America exploration).
  • Mr. Manner previously held senior executive positions with Ryder Scott Petroleum Engineers and Amoco Production Company. Mr. Manner has served on the boards of directors for Gulf Midstream Services, ROC Oil Blizzard Energy, Rio Vista Energy, Resolute Energy, Cordero Energy, Zenas Energy and Petrovera Energy Company.
  • Mr. Manner holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Rice University and is a professional engineer certified by the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta.

 

Steve VanSickle – Director

  • Currently president and ceo of Santonia Energy a 5,000 BOE per day company. Previously president and CEO of Fairborne Energy a 16,000 BOE per day company.
  • He also serves as lead independent Director of Cub Energy (TSXV:KUB), a public oil and gas company with assets in Ukraine.
  • He was also previously Chairman of the Board of Bolivar Energy, a public oil company with assets in Colombia that was sold in late 2011.
  • Mr. VanSickle has an extensive background in the oil and gas industry both in Canada and internationally. He has been involved in exploration, production, strategic planning and portfolio management in the oil and gas industry for the past 25 years.
  • Mr. VanSickle received his B.Sc. in Geology from McMaster University in 1986 and attended the Kellogg Executive Development Program in 1997.

 

Scott Cochlan – Director

  • Mr. Cochlan is a partner at the law firm of Torys LLP in the Corporate and Capital Markets group.
  • Mr. Cochlan has represented senior and junior public issuers in numerous aspects of general corporate law and securities regulatory matters including corporate governance, continuous disclosure, regulatory compliance and transaction negotiation and completion.
  • Mr. Cochlan also has extensive experience in representing both issuers and underwriters in a wide variety of complex private and public financing matters (equity and debt), including cross-border financings, mergers, acquisitions and other business reorganizations and restructurings.
  • Mr. Cochlan holds a law degree from the University of Calgary and a B.A. from the University of Western Ontario.
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