Electrum Special Acquisition Corporation
MANAGEMENT & BOARD
Executive Officers
Eric N. Vincent, 50
CEO
Mr. Vincent has served as the chief executive officer of TEG since November 2012 and has over 18 years of experience building, growing and managing alternative asset management firms. Mr. Vincent previously served as president of Ospraie Management, LLC, or Ospraie, from January 2004 to October 2011. He was integral in developing the long-term strategy for the firm and in its rapid growth from $1 billion to over $9 billion in assets under management. During his tenure, Mr. Vincent drove the successful creation and capitalization of new investment products and negotiated key strategic investments in the firm by Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse. From 2007 through 2009, Mr. Vincent served as chairman of the board of directors of the Managed Funds Association, the leading trade association representing the U.S. hedge fund industry. As chairman, he served as an industry liaison to the Treasury, Federal Reserve, SEC, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, and to Congressional representatives focused on regulatory oversight of the financial services industry. Prior to joining Ospraie, Mr. Vincent served as chief operating officer and general counsel of the investment firm RHG Capital, L.P. Previously, he was a partner at Omega Advisors, Inc. Mr. Vincent began his career as an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. He has served as a director, audit committee chairman and compensation committee member of Tintina Resources Inc. (CVE: TAU) since April 2013. Mr. Vincent has served on the board of directors of Sunshine Silver Mining & Refining Corporation since March 2015 and Electrum Ltd. since July 2013. Mr. Vincent was previously a member of the Global Markets Advisory Committee of the CFTC and a member of the Investor Advisory Group of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Mr. Vincent holds a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College.
Board of Directors
Thomas S. Kaplan, 52
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Mr. Kaplan is the founder of TEG and has served as its chairman and chief investment officer since May 2011. Mr. Kaplan possesses a track record of more than 20 years as a successful investor and entrepreneur in the resources sector. In 1993, he founded Apex Silver Mines, or Apex, to capitalize on the improving supply/demand fundamentals of metals. While he was chief executive officer and chairman of Apex, Mr. Kaplan’s team discovered and financed the San Cristóbal deposit in Bolivia, now one of the largest producers of silver and zinc in the world. In 2003, TEG and Mr. Kaplan became the largest investor in African Platinum Plc. (then known as Southern African Resources Plc.), enabling it to explore and develop one of the largest platinum group metals projects in South Africa. Also in 2003, Mr. Kaplan founded Leor Exploration and Production LLC, or Leor, which became one of the fastest-growing privately held hydrocarbon exploration and production companies in the United States. In 2007, Leor’s natural gas assets were sold to EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. for $2.55 billion. Mr. Kaplan has served as chairman of the board of directors of NovaGold Resources Inc. (NYSE-MKT, TSX: NG) and NovaCopper Inc. (NYSE-MKT, TSX: NCQ), since November 2011 and January 2012, respectively. Mr. Kaplan is co-founder and executive chairman of Panthera Corporation, the leading charity devoted to preserving big cats and their ecosystems around the globe. Mr. Kaplan also founded and is a director of Project Orianne, a public charity that focuses on preserving long-leaf pine forests in the Southeastern United States. Mr. Kaplan holds a Ph.D. in History from Oxford University, where he also received a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts in the same subject.
Dwight W. Anderson, 48
Director
Mr. Anderson is the Managing Partner of Ospraie Management LLC, which actively invests in commodity markets and basic industries worldwide based on fundamental, bottom-up research. Mr. Anderson currently serves as Portfolio Manager of two absolute return hedge funds at Ospraie and Co-Portfolio Manager of the Firm’s Private Equity fund. Mr. Anderson has been focused on investing in basic industry companies and commodity markets for nearly 20 years. He launched Ospraie in 1999 in partnership with Tudor Investment Corporation, where he served as Head of the Basic Industries Group, before establishing Ospraie Management, LLC as an independent firm in 2004. Prior to joining Tudor, Mr. Anderson was a Managing Director in charge of Basic Industries and Commodities Group at Tiger Management. Mr. Anderson currently serves on the board of directors of Adecoagro S.A. (NYSE: AGRO), a South American agricultural company. Mr. Anderson holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina and an AB in History from Princeton University. The University of North Carolina awarded Mr. Anderson with its Kenan-Flagler Young Alumni Award 2000 and its MBA Alumni Merit Award in 2007. In 2008, Mr. Anderson was inducted by NYU into Sir Harold Acton Society. Mr. Anderson is certified in production and inventory management by the APICS. Mr. Anderson serves on the Board of Trustees of NYU Langone Medical Center and UNC Kenan Flagler Business School.
David W. Peat, 62
Independent Director
Mr. Peat has over 30 years of executive experience in financial leadership in support of mining corporations. Mr. Peat has held multiple executive positions, including as vice president and chief financial officer of Frontera Copper Corporation from 2006 through 2009; vice president and global controller of Newmont Mining Corporation from 2002 through 2004; and vice president of finance and chief financial officer of Homestake Mining from 1999 through 2002. Mr. Peat began his career at Price Waterhouse in Toronto and he has been a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (formerly known as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario) since 1978. Mr. Peat has served as a director and chairman of the audit committee of AQM Copper Inc. (CVE: AQM), a publicly traded copper exploration and development company, and Fortune Bay Corp. (TSX: FOB), a publicly traded gold exploration and development company, since May 2014 and March 2014, respectively. He has also served as a director and chairman of the audit committee of the Sunshine Silver Mining & Refining Corporation, a privately held silver exploration and development company, and Gabriel Resources Ltd. (TSE: GBU), a publicly traded gold exploration and development company, since September 2011 and June 2010, respectively. Mr. Peat previously served as a director of Brigus Gold Corporation from May 2006 to March 2014. Mr. Peat holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Western Ontario, and a Bachelor of Commerce, with Honors in Business Administration, from the University of Windsor, Ontario.
Thomas A. Ronzetti III, 50
Independent Director
Mr. Ronzetti is a shareholder and head of the commercial and complex litigation department of Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton, LLP, a law firm specializing in litigation involving fraud and professional misconduct, where he has served since 2001. Mr. Ronzetti previously served as an assistant county attorney for Miami-Dade County. Mr. Ronzetti holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Duke University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Miami School of Law, where he has taught as an adjunct professor since 1992.
Marc S. Goodman, 67
Independent Director
Since April 2014, Mr. Goodman has served as Managing Director of Conyers Consulting Group, a consulting firm for asset management companies that he co-founded in 2014. Since January 2015, he has also served as a Partner in Multistrat Holdings Ltd., which works with asset managers and family offices interested in exploring opportunities in the reinsurance industry. From 1983 until March 2014, Mr. Goodman served in several senior executive positions, most recently as Co-Executive Chairman and Co-Chief Investment Officer, with Kenmar Olympia Group, an alternative investment firm that he co-founded in 1983. Prior to that, he was a Vice President and Director at Pasternak Baum and Co., Inc., a global dealer of cash commodities. Mr. Goodman graduated from the Bernard M. Baruch School of Business of the City University of New York with a BBA degree and an MBA in Finance and Investments. He was awarded an Economics and Finance Department Fellowship during his studies.
Diana J. Walters, 51
Independent Director
Ms. Walters has 27 years of experience in the Natural Resources sector, as an investment manager, an investment banker and in operating roles. She served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Liberty Metals & Mining Holdings, LLC and as a member of senior management of Liberty Mutual Asset Management from January 2010 to September 2014. She was a Managing Partner of Eland Capital, LLC, a natural resources advisory firm founded by her, from 2007 to 2010. Ms. Walters has extensive investment experience with both debt and equity through various previous leadership roles at Credit Suisse, HSBC and other firms. She also served as Chief Financial Officer of Tatham Offshore Inc., an independent oil and gas company. Ms. Walters currently serves on the board of directors of Platinum Group Metals (NYSE MKT: PLG), a mining company. Ms. Walters graduated with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in Plan II Liberal Arts and an MA in Energy and Mineral Resources.