Executive Officers

Ajit Kumar, 47
Chief Executive Officer

He is a buy-side investment executive with more than 23 years of experience in investing in global mining and energy metals sectors for multiple family offices in London, UK. He has an audited track record of 2.5x Multiple on Invested Capital (MOIC) in private investments and 58% ROI on long/short mining positions during his career. He currently serves as Founding Partner of Energy Metals Fund and CEO. In 2020, Mr. Kumar raised V Shape Investment Management Limited to invest in distressed opportunities in the renewable energy and electronics manufacturing sector. Prior to his experience investing for family offices, Mr. Kumar served as Head of Mining Investments for both Ivanhoe Capital Corp. and Investment Professional of Sculptor Capital Management Inc., previously known as Och Ziff Management Europe Ltd. with $36bn assets under management (“AUM”). Mr. Kumar holds public market experience from serving as Acquisitions Advisor for BHP Ltd. across Africa, Singapore and the UK where he originated and executed a wide range of multi-commodity deals increasing the value of the company to over $100bn. Mr. Kumar has spent more than a decade in corporate development roles with diversified mining companies, including BHP Ltd., Barrick Gold Corporation and Phelps Dodge Corporation. His career began as a geoscientist for Phelps Dodge Corporation, where he spent his six-year tenure exploring for copper, gold and nickel deposits in India and Canada. He also worked at BHP Billiton in various metal divisions making cases for acquisitions of assets. Mr. Kumar holds his Bachelor of Science in Geology from Sido Kanhu Murmu University, India, Master of Science in Geology from University of Delhi, India and his Master of Science in Minerals Economics from Queen’s University, Canada.

Abi Adeoti, 59
Chief Financial Officer and Director

He has over 25 years of experience as a financial executive for Fortune 50 businesses and exceptional public accounting experience. Mr. Adeoti currently serves as Senior Director of Financial Planning & Analysis at Twitter, Inc. Previously, he served as Senior Finance Director at Intel Corporation where he supported all aspects of financial planning and reporting for the company, as well as optimizing its IP investment portfolio. He has spent most of his career working with high-growth hardware and software companies such as Intel, Jawbone, Deem, Intuit, Microsoft, and Hewlett-Packard. During his tenure at Deem Inc., he served as interim CFO and led its recapitalization initiative successfully closing a $70m+ equity round. Mr. Adeoti has overseen Financial Planning and Analysis, Accounting, Legal, Operations, Facilities, and IT functions and did extensive work in capital raising, both debt and equity, and successfully completed and integrated multiple M&A transactions. Mr. Adeoti has his MBA in Finance and Strategic Management from Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, and his B.S. in Accounting and Finance from California State University — East Bay.

Board of Directors

Jacqueline Lundquist, 57
Director Nominee

Jacqueline Lundquist is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she earned a degree in Rhetoric and Communications and Foreign Languages and of the Alliance Française in Paris. Her career has included a variety of fields including hotel sales, marketing and advertising for Hilton and Hyatt Hotels, co-owner of a Washington, DC based public relations firm, entertainment reporter for CBS television and for seven years, working with the musical group, The Beach Boys. She has worked on National Community Service issues for President George Bush, Sr. and President Bill Clinton. Her project, STARSERVE, was President George H.W. Bush’s first Point of Light Initiative and it engaged over 30 entertainment celebrities to promote community service among school children grades K-12. Jacqueline’s husband, Richard Celeste, served as Ambassador to India under President Clinton from 1997-2001. As first lady of the U.S. in India, Jacqueline worked on a variety of issues including HIV/AIDS, women’s and children’s causes, the environment, breast cancer awareness and the promotion of fashion and the arts. Jacqueline is the co-author, along with her son, Sam Celeste, of the children’s book “There’s A Mouse in Roosevelt House,” “Letters From Vietnam: A Daughter’s Search for her Father” co-written posthumously with her military father, and “Letters from the Battlefield” a bestselling book in Vietnam co-written with a North Vietnamese Soldier. Jacqueline’s love of India spawned a variety of business enterprises. Her jewelry company, I’m Sari, was sold in the U.S. at Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord and Taylor and a variety of boutiques across the country. Her fashion company, Karma, promoted Indian fashion designers in the U.S. In 2002, Jacqueline was awarded the “Special Award for Contribution to Promotion of Indian Fashion Globally” at the Zee Gold Bollywood Awards in New York City. Jacqueline has served on the board of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, the Children’s Literacy Center, City Year Denver and the Women’s Foundation of Colorado. Jacqueline also chaired the 1874 Society at Colorado College, which raised over $1.5 million per annum for the college’s annual fund. For 10 years, Jacqueline served as Chief Serendipity Officer at WaterHealth International, which works in over 1000 sites in India and Africa bringing clean safe drinking water to millions of people, providing jobs and opportunities to women and eradicating plastic in hotels, corporate offices and communities.

John Riesenberg, 33
Director Nominee

John Riesenberg provides the intellectual rigor in formulating public policy for both public institutions and private firms in the oil and gas industry. He brings a decade of experience at Devon Energy, one of the largest public oil and gas companies in the U.S. with a market cap of over $18 billion. During his tenure with Devon, Mr. Riesenberg served as Public & Government Affairs Specialist and Research Coordinator and Policy & Government Affairs Professional, which provided research and analysis for public policy issues in the areas where Devon operates. Prior to Devon Energy, Mr. Riesenberg served as a Research Coordinator for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber. He supported the Director of Community Redevelopment by conducting research with an emphasis on retail and economic development. Mr. Riesenberg holds a B.S.B. in Economics and a Master of Science degree in Energy Management from Oklahoma City University.

Prashant Mitta, 50
Director Nominee

Prashant Mitta is an accomplished operator and investor with a focus on Clean Energy and Clean Water Sectors over the last 25 years. Mr. Mitta is currently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of World Water Works Holdings, Inc. (WWW), a global innovator in the water treatment industry-driven to help industrial and municipal customers find wastewater treatment solutions that deliver clean water, better performance, recover resources, and create value for the client. Mr. Mitta joined WWW in 2010. Since then, he has led a geographic expansion of WWW into global markets and overseen a sustained growth of profits and revenues. Mr. Mitta has also invested in, developed, and managed Think Energy Partners LLC and affiliated companies (TEP). As a founder of TEP, Mr. Mitta has a strong track record with investors and helped oversee the management and development of approximately 650 MWs of power plant capacity, including a series of three gas-based power plants in New Jersey. Mr. Mitta also has experience in the renewables sector, where he assisted Solarpack, SA with the development of utility-scale solar plants in India with approximately 104 MWp of capacity. In 2000, Mr. Mitta was Vice President at Connect Capital a venture capital firm funded by Insight Partners, Microsoft, and Think Capital, an Investor in TEP. Prior to Connect Capital, Prashant held various positions at Enron International in both Project Finance, Corporate Development, and Mergers & Acquisitions. During his period at Enron, he helped finance over $1 billion in energy assets. Prashant earned a BS in Biology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA in Finance at Columbia Business School.