About Us

Dr. Johnson has more than 35 years of global, Canadian frontier, and Western Canadian exploration and production experience. He has previously worked for Shell Canada, ExxonMobil, Husky Energy, Kuwait Oil Company, KUFPEC, and a public international start-up, which he founded. Dr. Johnson has extensive business development, operations, geoscience research, and technical E&P experience covering 40+ petroleum provinces, with discoveries in Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Canadian Frontiers and the South China Sea.He currently serves as a Director for the Canadian Global Exploration Forum (CGEF), and a Councillor for the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).

Mr. Robinson has over 10 years of accounting and capital markets experience. He has provided audit, tax and consulting services to private and public companies for a number of years at MNP LLP before moving to the Telus Pension Fund as a senior analyst, where he gained significant exposure to equity portfolio management and commercial lending.

Mr. Robinson is currently the group CFO and a partner in Cronin Group, a natural resource focused merchant bank based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Dr. Hayes is President of Petrel Robertson Consulting Ltd., a geoscience consulting firm engaged by industry, government, and legal and financial organizations. He joined PRCL in 1996 after 15 years of exploration experience in operating companies, including Shell Canada and Canadian Hunter. Dr. Hayes has a high level of geoscience expertise in unconventional hydrocarbons, including oil sands, tight reservoirs, and shale plays in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and internationally.

He is an active member of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG) and served as its president in 2001. He currently serves as a Board member for the Canadian Society for Unconventional Resources (CSUR) and recently completed his second three-year term as a Councillor for the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA). He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta.

Mr. Hardy has over 15 years of experience in the global resource sector where he has operated and advised. He has also brought venture capital, private equity, and strategic partners to the table. Mr. Hardy has founded and sold several resource focused businesses from services to extraction and development.

Mr. Hardy is currently the CEO of Cronin Group, CEO and Director of CloudBreak Discovery Corp, and Director and Non-Executive Chairman of Graycliff Exploration, among other private and public companies.

Mr. Putnam is a geologist with over 40 years of varied global experience at both technical and executive levels. Over his career he has been at various times, an employee, an advisor to technical and management teams as well as boards of directors, a board member, and a founder of new companies.  Early stage companies started by Peter have raised substantial funds from investors inclusive of large private equity firms, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and family offices.  With experience on six continents, he is currently the President of Hay Valley Resources Ltd. Mr. Putnam is an advisor to and former shareholder of Petrel Robertson.

Mr. Putnam holds a Ph.D. from the University of Calgary and is a past-President of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, a former adjunct professor at the University of Calgary, and a former councillor of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).  He has published widely as an author of scientific articles dealing with various facets of petroleum geology and is a regular guest lecturer at Canadian universities.

Monica Rovers has over 25 years of international relations experience in private, public and non-profit organizations. She has been primarily supporting the energy sector for a number of years. She was Global Head, Energy at the Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange where she helped energy companies from around the world to raise money on Canadian capital markets and connected energy companies with other sources of financing to help them grow. Monica also managed partnerships with international stock exchanges where they would jointly help energy companies raise capital. She also led the TSX/TSXV’s diversification strategy in Alberta. Monica was Business Development Manager, Energy at Calgary Economic Development where she helped energy services companies expand their operations internationally by taking them to new international markets and advising them on market entry. Monica is a speaker and moderator at global energy events speaking about energy finance, foreign direct investment and economic development. More recently, she is teaching leadership, business and logistics programs at the post-secondary level. Monica also owns an international advisory firm, Global Connect Corporation where she assists companies to grow through her international business expertise. She is also helping Alberta companies to grow by providing strategy advice through Rainmaker Global Business Development and Alberta IoT.

Monica holds an MBA in Global Management and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management.

Stephen Burleton, CFA, MBA, ICD.D is an experienced mining executive with significant experience in capital raising, corporate development and strategy. At present, Mr. Burleton is the President and CEO of Angus Gold and most recently prior to that, he was the President and CEO of GT Gold where he brought  Newmont Corporation in as a strategic investor.  Prior to that he was Vice President, Business Development, at Richmont Mines Inc. prior to Richmont being acquired by Alamos Gold Inc. for US$770 million in November 2017. Mr. Burleton was responsible for the financing at Richmont and worked closely with its executive team in determining the Company’s strategic direction. He has over 18 years of experience in the Canadian investment banking industry as Managing Director of Investment Banking at Wellington West Capital Markets Inc., Scotia Capital Inc. and BMO Capital Markets advising on strategic transactions and executing debt and equity financing for companies in the mining, fertilizer and industrial products sectors.

Mr. Burleton is a CFA® Charterholder, has an MBA from York University and received his ICD.D from the Rotman School of Management.

Mr. Wittstrom is a geoscientist with more than 40 years of experience in the oil and gas industry and has held several positions in technical and business leadership, managing important exploration and field development projects in basins in the United States and overseas.  Mr. Wittstrom had a 26-year career at Chevron, where he managed projects in most United States onshore basins, he was also the Vice President of International Exploration for Reliance Industries and VP of North America Business Development for the Information Store. At Niko Resources he was the South America Business Unit Manager.  Mr. Wittstrom is a co-founder and the current Chairman of the Oil Group, a Houston-based holding company for investments in Latin America in the E&P operations and services sectors.  Mr. Wittstrom has chaired several petroleum conferences and is currently the Vice President of the Canadian Global Exploration Forum, a Canadian non-profit organization focused on promoting Canadian-based international oil and gas exploration and production companies around the world.   Mr. Wittstrom holds a Master of Science in Geology from the Colorado School of Mines and has authored numerous papers and presentations on exploration plays and methods, reservoir characterization and development, and technology management.

Mr. Hookey has over 8 years of experience in international capital markets, consulting across the capital structure for corporate transactions and broad investment portfolio mandates. During his career, Mr. Hookey has advised individuals, private and public companies, primarily in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Mr. Hookey is currently a Partner of Cronin Capital Corp., a natural resource focused merchant banking group based in Vancouver, Canada, Chief Executive Officer of TSXV listed Gold Rush Cariboo and a Non-Executive Director of AQSE listed Imperial X Plc.

Mr. Zubkow has 45 years of professional experience, spending his initial 12 years as a structural engineer before transitioning to work in the petroleum industry in Western Canada. Previously, Mr. Zubkow has worked for Underwood McLellan, Dome Petroleum, Amoco Canada, Devon Energy, ConocoPhillips Canada, Penn West, and most recently Canadian Natural Resources.

Mr. Zubkow has extensive experience in drilling and completing petroleum and natural gas wells, building production facilities and infrastructure, and managing production operations. As such, he is uniquely qualified with respect to the development of the helium resource in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. He is currently a registered practicing engineer with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).

Mr. Anfort is an explorer with more than 28 years of experience covering multiple basins in North America, Europe and Asia.  The larger focus of his efforts include the Gulf of Mexico, Jeanne d’Arc and Flemish Pass Basins, further north into Labrador, the west coast of Greenland and up into the Canadian Arctic.  He started his career at Marathon Oil in Houston, and has worked for Husky Energy, Statoil (Equinor), and Suncor in Calgary, Canada.  Most recently he lived and worked in Budapest, Hungary for Sandhill Petroleum exploring the Eastern Pannonian Basin.

In each of these geologically diverse basins, Mr. Anfort has taken a regional approach to exploration, identifying plays and prospects by taking a hands-on integrated approach to evaluating geoscience data with a view to understanding petroleum systems and high-grading opportunities.  He has been a leader on multiple successful exploration ventures most recently in the Mizzen and Bay du Nord discoveries of the Flemish Pass Basin. In addition, he was a principle in building the portfolio of prospects which included the recently announced discoveries of Cambriol and Capahayden by Equinor.

Mr. Anfort is currently a registered practicing Geoscientist with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).

Petrel Robertson Consulting Ltd. is a global petroleum geoscience consulting firm based in Calgary, Alberta. PRCL offers technical and strategic exploration and development services to clients in more than 40 countries and in many of the major petroleum basins of the world. Petrel Robertson was founded in 1972 and was affiliated with UK-based Robertson Research International for a number of years. The current ownership and management team has nearly 100 years of domestic and international petroleum geoscience and strategic experience.

Cronin Capital is a natural resource focused merchant bank based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Cronin provides early to mid-stage resource businesses with intelligent capital, strategic advice, and access to a global network of financiers. Cronin works with management teams to deliver above average returns while building sound long-term business opportunities.