Management & Directors
Management
Jeffrey D. Newcommon, President, CEO & Director received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Finance and Economics from the University of Western Ontario in 1983, and from 1984 to 1995, held various positions with Canadian Hunter Exploration Ltd. based in Calgary. With over 25 years of industry experience Mr. Newcommon is familiar with the entire Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and has extensive experience in land and acquisition transactions, as well as corporate mergers and acquisitions. In 1995 he joined Petrofund and headed the exploration, land and A&D divisions and was the Executive Vice President.
Glen Fischer, Chief Operating Officer is a Professional Engineer with over 30 years of engineering and management experience in the upstream oil and gas industry. Mr. Fischer has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Calgary. He has worked in the areas of drilling, completions, production, reservoir and evaluations. Mr. Fischer has also worked on acquisitions and divestitures of both properties and corporations. He has experience throughout Western Canada and the northern frontier, and has worked for Canadian and US companies. Mr. Fischer was Senior Vice President, Operations of Petrofund from 1996 to 2006.
Steven J. Mackay, Vice-President Exploration was President and Co-Founder of Selkirk Energy Partnership from 2002 until 2005 when the Partnership was sold to Starpoint Resources. Mr. Mackay grew the company from inception to 1,400 boe/d through internally generated drilling prospects. Prior to forming Selkirk, Mr. Mackay was part of the prospect generating team at Kaiser Energy Ltd. from 1995 to 2002. During this time production grew to 6,000 boe/d. From 1986 to 1995 Mr. Mackay worked at Canadian Hunter Exploration initially as a regional geologist and later initiating the formation of the Southern Alberta Exploration group. During this time, production in Southern Alberta grew from nil to 40 mmcf/d through a series of large area farm-ins and crown land purchases based on internally generated prospects. Mr. Mackay graduated from the University of Alberta in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology and has over 20 years of industry experience.
Danny Geremia, Vice-President Finance & CFO is a Chartered Accountant with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Calgary. Mr. Geremia has over 15 years of varied oil and gas finance and tax related experience and from February 2007 to August 2009 was the CFO of Bellamont Exploration Ltd. Prior thereto, he was the CFO at Mission Oil and Gas where he was part of the initial team that helped grow Mission from 500 boe/d to over 7,000 boe/d. Prior to Mission, Mr. Geremia held the position of Treasurer and Acting Controller for ARC Resources. After graduation, Mr. Geremia worked with a major public accounting firm in both their audit and taxation departments.
Board of Directors
Jeffery E. Errico, Chairman, is a Professional Engineer with a Bachelor of Applied Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of British Columbia. During his career he has served as the senior operations executive for several small oil and gas E&P companies including Erskine Resources Ltd. and Deminex Canada Ltd. Mr. Errico joined Petrofund Energy Trust in 1995 and led its growth from 450 to over 42,000 boe/d of production. He was appointed President in 2002 and Chief Executive Officer in April of 2003. Mr. Errico is currently a Director of Inter Pipeline Fund, Crew Energy Inc., Guide Exploration Ltd., Diversified Management (11) Corp. and Diversified Management (12) Corp.
David Ambedian, Independent Businessman, prior thereto a Partner with 32° Capital, a private energy focused investment management company. He is also a Director of Caltex Energy Inc. and Evolve Exploration Ltd. Previously, David was a Director, co-founder and VP, Finance of Glacier Energy Limited, co-founder, VP, Finance & CFO of Ice Energy, Avalanche Energy Limited and Cypher Energy. Prior thereto, David held positions of increasing responsibility within the financial and accounting departments of Dorset Exploration, Turbo Resources and Amerada Hess. Mr. Ambedian is a member of the Society of Management Accountants of Alberta.
Brian Baker is currently a Senior Vice-President with Brookfield Asset Management's Energy Group. Previously Mr. Baker was a CFO of several oil and natural gas exploration companies and was a Partner in the energy practice of Collins Barrow Chartered accountants LLP. He currently sits on the Board of Second Wave Petroleum Inc. Mr. Baker is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Calgary.
Sandra S. Cowan, Independent Businesswoman, prior thereto a Partner and General Counsel of EdgeStone Capital Partners, an independent private equity firm managing over $1 billion of private capital. Prior to joining EdgeStone in 2001, Ms. Cowan practiced law for over 15 years, most recently as a senior partner of Goodman and Carr LLP. Her practice specialized in private equity and corporate finance transactions, including fund formation, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, cross-border and public market transaction. Ms. Cowan has an LLB from the University of Western Ontario and serves on a number of private and public boards.
Jim Reid is the Managing Partner, Energy with Brookfield’s Energy Group based in Calgary where he is responsible for evaluating energy related investment opportunities. Mr. Reid established Brookfield’s Calgary office in 2003 after spending several years as a Chief Financial Officer for two oil and gas exploration and production companies in Western Canada. Mr. Reid has been responsible for Brookfield’s energy lending business, and has completed over $2 billion of loans and energy related investments in addition to providing advisory services on many oil and gas related mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Reid obtained his Chartered Accountant designation at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Toronto and holds a business degree from University of Toronto.
Christopher P. Slubicki Independent Businessman, prior thereto President & CEO of OPTI Canada Inc. Mr. Slubicki is a Professional Engineer with a Bachelor of Applied Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Queen's) and an MBA (U of C). Mr. Slubicki was a founding member of Waterous & Co. He was instrumental in growing Waterous & Co. from a Calgary based oil and gas divestiture firm to a global leader in oil and gas investment banking until its sale in June 2005 to The Bank of Nova Scotia. Mr. Slubicki sits on the Board of several companies including Bonavista Energy Trust.
Jeff Newcommon, President, CEO & Director - see management bio.
Vincent Tkachyk is currently Vice President of Canadian Abraxas Petroleum, ULC. Prior thereto, Mr. Tkachyk was President, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Grey Wolf Exploration Inc. He is a Professional Engineer with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta and attended the Executive Development Program at Stanford University. Previous to Grey Wolf, he worked for Dekalb Energy Company starting as Manager of Operations and later as President and Chief Operating Officer. In 1994 he left Dekalb to become a partner in Pennant Petroleum which was later merged into Grey Wolf Exploration. Mr. Tkachyk began his career with Amoco Canada and Union Oil Company.