Leadership

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Leadership

Jason Smart

Director

Currently Fairfax Capital’s Managing Director, seasoned industry veteran, Jason Smart, has over 15 years of experience in international capital markets...

Peter Presland

Chairman

Peter Presland has over 45 years of experience in business, much of that at the highest levels of management within both public and private companies...

Grant Duthie

Director

Grant Duthie is a Partner of the Corporate & Securities Practice Group of Garfinkle Biderman LLP in Toronto, Canada. Grant's practice is focused on the areas of securities, corporate finance and mergers & acquisitions...

Daniel Nauth

Director

Daniel Nauth is a legal expert with over a decade of experience gained on both Wall Street in the U.S. and Bay Street, the center of Toronto’s Financial District. He has deep experience across U.S. securities and corporate law...

Richard Paolone

Director

Richard Paolone is the principal lawyer of Paolone Law Professional Corporation. Mr. Paolone is a Toronto-based securities lawyer where his work focuses on securities, corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions...

Jason Smart

Director

Mr. Smart has been a seed investor and founder of numerous public and private companies in his almost 20 year career in the capital markets. He was a founder and managing director of a European Financial Services company which had clients all across the globe. Mr. Smart is the founder and managing director of Fairfax Capital B.V, an advisor to early stage companies in all industries. In addition, Mr. Smart has been involved and has extensive experience in taking companies public in both North American and European markets through his background involvement as a seed investor.

Peter Presland

Chairman

Peter Presland has 50 years of experience in business, much of that at the highest levels of management within both public and private companies.

A law graduate at King’s College, University of London, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen. In 1980, he joined C E Heath plc, a major FTSE 350 international insurance group, as Group Accountant and then Treasurer, and became in 1985 the youngest ever PLC Director when appointed Group Finance Director at the age of 34. During this period, he was responsible inter alia for many M&A transactions, including acquisitions and disposals (both types of transactions within the UK, US, Australia, Latin America and Europe), a substantial LSE merger, a £25m HQ property sale and leaseback, two syndicated loan facilities (US$25M and £55m) and a £45m rights issue (96% subscribed).

He was promoted to become Heath’s Group Chief Executive in 1990 to lead a significant strategy change, exiting Heath’s insurance underwriting activities around the world. This involved sales in France (£5m) and Bermuda (US$65m) and an IPO (cAS$200m) on the ASX. In 1996, he devised and completed the demerger of C E Heath’s computer services operations into a separate publicly listed company, Rebus Group plc, becoming its Chief Executive and in 1999 its Executive Chairman. He remained a NED on the Heath Board, concluding a sale of the residual Heath business in 1997 to an MBO for £120m. In 1999, he negotiated the sale of Rebus to US private equity interests for £185m, ensuring that 1996 Heath shareholders doubled their money in three years.

Since 2001, Peter has pursued a portfolio non-executive career, serving as a Chairman/NED on c20 private and public companies. These appointments include the first independent Chairmanship of LINK, the UK ATM network, in 2003 where he led a major corporate governance change and completed the merger of LINK with Voca, the provider of the BACS service, becoming Chairman of VocaLink in 2007. Among other appointments, from 2012 to 2015, he served as a NED/Chairman of the Audit and Governance Committee of East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust and in 2019 was asked to become Chairman of the Audit and Governance Committee of The Lord’s Taverners, a high-profile charity. Peter currently serves as a NED/ Chairman of the Audit, Risk &Disclosure Committee of Redx Pharma PLC, an AIM listed drug discovery company.

Grant Duthie

Director

Grant Duthie is a Partner of the Corporate and Securities Practice Group of Garfinkle Biderman LLP in Toronto, Canada. Grant’s practice is primarily focused on the areas of securities, corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. He has significant experience representing both private and publicly traded companies, underwriters and dealers in both private and public offerings of debt and equity securities, mergers, and acquisitions. He advises clients in a wide range of industry sectors, including cannabis, life sciences, blockchain, natural resources and financial services. Grant has been counsel for numerous private placements and M&A transactions, including the establishment of joint ventures, asset/share purchase and sale transactions, reverse takeovers, takeover bids, plans of arrangement and other corporate reorganizations. Grant also assists many companies in the strategic planning and review of corporate governance policies and compliance with securities regulations and stock exchange policies.

Daniel Nauth

Director

Daniel Nauth is a legal expert with over a decade of experience gained on both Wall Street in the U.S. and Bay Street, the center of Toronto’s Financial District. He has deep experience across U.S. securities and corporate law, specializing in advising both public and private issuers across U.S.-Canada cross-border capital markets, mergers, and acquisitions, corporate and securities transactions, and regulatory compliance. His extensive advisory experience spans various industries including mining, oil and gas, emerging biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, medicinal cannabis, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain technology. Transactions that Mr. Nauth has supported include several multi million dollar financings and business combinations.

Richard Paolone

Director

Richard Paolone is the principal lawyer of Paolone Law Professional Corporation. Mr. Paolone is a Toronto-based securities lawyer where his work focuses on securities, corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions. He has a wide range of corporate experience from representing companies in private and public offerings of debt and equity securities. Furthermore, Mr. Paolone has been integral to multiple mergers and acquisitions and reverse takeover transactions in the industries of mining, cannabis, carbon credits, oil and gas, technology, and plant-based food. Mr. Paolone currently serves as Director and CEO of several private and reporting companies.

None of the Directors are considered to be “independent” (using the definition set out in the Corporate Governance Code).

It is intended that additional directors, both executive and non-executive, will be appointed at the time of the acquisition and that independence will be one of the factors taken into account at that time.

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