Swan Hills Synfuels Board of Directors are elected each year at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders. There are currently 7 Board members:
Mr. Turcotte is an engineer with a strong record of value creation in the energy sector. After receiving a diploma in Gas Technology (honors), he completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering (honors) and an MBA degree.
Mr. Turcotte is currently the sole shareholder in Stone Creek Resorts, which owns two major real estate developments. Mr. Turcotte is a founder and Chairman of Western Hydrogen Limited, a private company involved in a molten salt gasification process to produce cost-effective high pressure hydrogen and simultaneous sequestration of carbon dioxide.
Mr. Turcotte was the founding CEO of Chauvco Resources Ltd. with an initial $2 million public offering and sold Chauvco in 1997 for $1.3 billion.
Mr. Turcotte was also a founder and Chief Executive Officer of Western Oil Sands Inc. and was its Chairman until October 2007. Western was a participant in the $5.7 billion, 155,000 barrels per day Athabasca Oil Sands project. Western Oil Sands raised $1.3 billion of capital ($450 million of equity and $850 million of debt) and its equity market capitalization of $6.3 billion was realized in October 2007 when it was sold.
Mr. Turcotte was the founding CEO of Veresen Inc. and was its Chairman until December 2007. Veresen Inc. has an equity market value of approximately $2.5 billion and its assets include an approximate 50% equity interest in the $5 billion, 3000 km Alliance Pipeline and the Aux Sable 100,000 barrels per day natural gas liquids extraction plant.
Synergia is Mr. Turcotte’s only outside directorship. He has served on the Board of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and various other Boards in the industry. Mr. Turcotte is also a member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives.
Mr. Turcotte received the Independent Petroleum Association of Canada Chairman’s Award in 1990. He also received the Wall Street Transcript Gold Award for the outstanding Chief Executive Officer in the category of Canadian Junior Oil Producers in 1990 and in 1991, and received the same award in the Canadian Intermediate Oil Producer category. The Pinnacle Award honoring Entrepreneurship in Alberta was presented to Mr. Turcotte in late 1991. Mr. Turcotte was the first recipient of NAIT’s Alumni Award of Distinction in April 1997. In October 2007, Mr. Turcotte was presented with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award® for the Energy Producers sector of the Prairies Division.
Don Archibald served as the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Cyries Energy Inc. from 2004 until 2008. Mr. Archibald also co-founded and served as the President and Chief Executive Officer at Cequel Energy Inc. from 2002 to 2004, and Cypress Energy Inc. from 1996 to 2001. Mr. Archibald has 11 years of experience in the financial services industry, the majority of which was concentrated in the oil and gas sector. He was employed at two major Canadian banks, ultimately as Senior Manager/Director Corporate Banking, Natural Resources Group in addition to a Canadian Schedule II Bank as Vice President, Global Investment Bank. He is currently Chairman of Cequence Energy Ltd. and Waldron Energy Corporation as well as a director of Progress Energy Resources Corp., Chinook Energy Inc., Spartan Oil Corp., Sea NG Corp., Synergia Polygen Ltd., Palisade Capital, and Panorama Mountain Resort. Mr. Archibald also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Calgary YMCA. He received a Masters of Business Administration degree in 1985 from the University of Western Ontario and graduated in 1982 from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Commerce degree (with distinction).
Geoffrey Cumming has over 30 years industry experience and has served in various executive management positions. He was Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Gardiner Group Capital Limited, a private international investment corporation based in Toronto, President and CEO of Gardiner Oil and Gas Limited, a public Canadian oil and gas company, and Managing Director of Emerald Capital Limited in Auckland, New Zealand, another international investment corporation. He brings significant international financial experience and board expertise to Swan Hills Synfuels. He has also served on the board of directors of more than twenty public companies in various countries and he received a M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics.
Martin A. Lambert has over 30 years experience in corporate development, mergers and acquisitions, capital funding, and structuring and financing. Martin co-founded Matco Capital in 2001 and was the partner responsible for its Swan Hills Synfuels initiative until he joined Swan Hills Synfuels on a full-time basis as its CEO in October 2008.
Martin was previously a Partner and CEO of the Bennett Jones Law Firm. Named Alberta’s Business Person of the Year for 1998 by Alberta Venture Magazine, he is described in Chambers Global as a “heavy hitting M&A practitioner” and “as good as it gets in the oil patch.” He has also been recognized as one of Canada’s top 30 dealmakers by Canada’s National Post.
Robert Puchniak has been the Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of James Richardson & Sons, Limited since March 2001 and prior thereto, was Vice-President, Finance and Investment with James Richardson & Sons, Limited since November 1996. Mr. Puchniak was President and Chief Executive Officer of Tundra Oil & Gas Limited, a private oil and gas corporation, from January 1989 to April 2003 and has been Chairman since that time.
Mr. Puchniak is a director of a number of corporations including Richardson International Limited, Tundra Oil & Gas Limited, Richardson Financial Group Limited, Lombard Realty Limited, Strad Energy Services Ltd. and Synergia Polygen Ltd. He also Chairs the Finance Committee of CancerCare Manitoba Foundation Inc. and is a member of the Investment Committee of The Winnipeg Foundation and The Civil Service Superannuation Board.
His past involvements include membership on the board of directors of Western Oil Sands Inc., Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd., OPTI Canada Inc., Value Creation Inc., Trident Resources Corp., Moffat Communications Limited and Richland Petroleum Corporation; Chairman, Manitoba Teachers’ Retirement Fund; Chairman, Council of Examiners, Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts; and President, Winnipeg Society of Financial Analysts.
Mr. Puchniak holds a B.Comm. (Honours) from the University of Manitoba and was awarded the University Gold Medal for his achievements. He earned a Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1975.
Alan Ross is a managing director of Matco Capital Ltd. and senior tax counsel at the law firm of Bennett Jones LLP. As managing director of Matco, Mr. Ross has been instrumental in the formation, capitalization and restructuring of numerous corporations and business trusts, primarily in the financial services and oil and gas service, exploration and production industries. Mr. Ross serves on the board of directors of Deans Knight Income Corporation (TSX:DNC), Cadomin Capital Corporation (TSXV:CDK.H), Synergia Polygen Ltd. and Cidel Trust Company. As counsel, Mr. Ross is recognized as one of Canada’s leading lawyers in the field of income tax law, focusing on the income tax aspects of corporate reorganizations, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Matco in 2006, Mr. Ross was head of the tax department at Bennett Jones LLP. He is a member of the Canadian Petroleum Tax Society and the Canadian Tax Foundation.
Doug Shaigec is an engineer with nearly twenty years’ experience in energy project development and operations, gas processing facility operations, gasification project development, and power generation business development and construction.
Doug is a founder of Swan Hills Synfuels and he has been its President since the inception of Synfuels’ gasification project development efforts in 2005.
Doug formerly led TransCanada’s western North America power generation development business, which developed over 350 MW of high efficiency gas-fired cogeneration in Alberta. Doug was also formerly with Shell Canada in gas processing and operations project management.