Jerald L. Oaks
Mr. Oaks was one of the original founders of Petrobank and has been a Director of Petrobank since September 1993. He is currently President and founder of Oaks Resources Management Inc., which provides oil and gas property management and technical services for institutional and private oil and gas interest owners. Mr. Oaks received a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1958. Mr. Oaks has 48 years of oil and gas experience including various engineering roles at Phillips Petroleum Company working in Texas, Venezuela, Algeria, Libya and Colombia. In 1973, Mr. Oaks was a founder of Taiga Energy, Inc. which specialized in tight gas development, primarily in the Uintah and Piceance Basins of Colorado and Utah. In 1980, Mr. Oaks was a founder and President of Petrobank Operating Company, a gas producing and development company specializing in new technology development for gas production, which drilled and operated 200 gas wells with extensive lease holdings in Pennsylvania. Mr. Oaks is a registered Professional Engineer (Texas) and a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers.
Alastair Macdonald
Mr. Macdonald has been a Director of the Company since April 2006 and has been Corporate Secretary of PCL and predecessor companies since September 1996. He has been the Chief Executive Officer of Western Isles Ltd., a financial advisory company from September 2007 to Present; and was Chief Executive Officer of Triathlon Ltd., a financial advisory company, from September 1996 to September 2007.
Kenneth R. McKinnon
Mr. McKinnon has been a director of Petrominerales since May 2006. He has also served as a director of Petrobank since March 2000 and a director of PetroBakken since November 2009, and was Corporate Secretary of Petrobank from November 1997 to February 2005 and Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer from November 1997 to March 2000. Mr. McKinnon has held the position of Vice President Legal and General Counsel of Critical Mass Inc. since March 2000. Mr. McKinnon has served on the Board of Governors of the University of Calgary since September 2008 and as a member of its Governance and Human Resources Committee since June 2010, and as a director and chairman of the Governance and Compensation Committee of Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures since January 2010. Mr. McKinnon holds an ICD.D designation as a certified corporate director.
Ernesto Sarpi
Mr. Sarpi has been a self-employed consultant since 2004. From 1999 to 2004, Mr. Sarpi was Business Manager Americas & Far East, Agip Division, of ENI Group. Prior thereto, Mr. Sarpi was Portfolio and Joint Venture Manager, Agip UK Ltd. from 1995 to 1999; General Manager, Agip Africa Algerian Branch from 1993 to 1994; Manager Negotiations International Exploration, Agip SpA from 1991 to 1993 and General Manager, Agip Energy and Natural Resources (Nigeria) from 1988 to 1991. Mr. Sarpi obtained a Doctorate in Geological Sciences degree from the University of Naples in 1961 and a Ph.D. in Geology from Columbia University in 1967.
Enrique Umaña-Valenzuela
Mr. Umaña-Valenzuela, a citizen and resident of Colombia, has been in private practice as a trade and investment consultant and has also been involved in family land developing activities since May 2005. Mr. Umaña-Valenzuela acted as President of the investment promotion agency of Colombia, Coinvertir, from 1997 to April 2005 and as a part-time legal representative from May 2005 to December 2005. Prior thereto, Mr. Umaña-Valenzuela was in private practice as a trade and investment consultant from 1995 to 1997. Mr. Umaña-Valenzuela acted as International Adviser to the Minister of Defense in Colombia and later as Vice Minister of Defense in 1995. Prior thereto, Mr. Umaña-Valenzuela acted as Deputy Chief of Mission of the Colombian Embassy and later as Chargé d’Affaires in Washington, D.C. in late 1994; as Minister Counselor of the Colombian Embassy of Colombia from 1991 to 1994; as Director of the Colombian Government Trade Bureau in New York City from 1983 to 1991; and as Financial Vice President of the Bogotá Telephone Company from 1982 to 1983. Mr. Umaña-Valenzuela is a Director of Sociedades Bolivar S. A. and a member of its Audit Committee, and a member of the Overseeing Committee of the Colombian Hydrocarbons Investment Fund, Phases I, II and III, and of the Colombian Forestry Investment Fund. Mr. Umaña-Valenzuela is also a member of the International Advisory Council of the Americas Society in New York City. Mr. Umaña-Valenzuela obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and International Relations from Columbia University in 1962.
John D. Wright
Mr. Wright is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Strategic Advisor of the Company. Mr. Wright served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Petrominerales from May 2006 to May 2010. Mr. Wright has served as the President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Petrobank since March 2000 and Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of PetroBakken since October 2009. Previously, Mr. Wright was the General Manager of Alberta Energy Company’s Ecuadorian operations from May to December 1999; President and Chief Executive Officer of Pacalta Resources Ltd. from May 1996 to June 1999; Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Morgan Hydrocarbons Inc. from December 1993 to April 1996; and Vice President Production of Morgan Hydrocarbons Inc. from 1989 to 1993. Mr. Wright graduated from the University of Alberta in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering and became a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder in 1986.
Geir Ytreland
Mr. Ytreland is a geologist, with more than 26 years experience in the international petroleum industry. From January 2004 he has been project manager for the undertaking: “Assistance in developing the management of the petroleum sector in East Timor”, a project financed by the government of Norway and intended to develop the East Timor government’s management and administration of the petroleum sector in that nation. Mr. Ytreland completed this assignment in May 2006 and has continued working as an independent energy and geology consultant in Oslo, Norway. Mr. Ytreland has also worked as a geoscientist and explorationist for Unocal (13 years) and Norsk Hydro (7 years) in Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, United States, the Middle East and Latin America. He was General Manager for Norsk Hydro in Venezuela from 1995 to 2000. Since 2000 he has been an independent consultant and prior to taking up the position in East Timor he was a consultant for Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Mr. Ytreland holds a Master of Science degree in Geology from the University of Bergen in Norway.