Chairman of the Board of Director
Marco Gagnon is a graduate in geology from Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, is a senior mining exploration professional with more than 25 years of experience, half of it with major mining companies. Mr. Gagnon has been Executive Vice President and director of Probe Metals Inc. since 2016 and was the President, the CEO and a director of Adventure Gold Inc. from 2007 to 2016. From 2004 to 2007, he was Vice-President Exploration and Acquisitions with Société d’exploration minière Vior inc. Prior to 2004, Mr. Gagnon acquired extensive experience in mine production and mine site and project exploration with Inmet Mining Corporation where, over a period of 10 years, he developed an expertise in designing, implementing and managing exploration programs on base metal and gold properties in Eastern Canada and in Finland. Prior to Inmet, he was employed by Barrick Gold, Minnova and Radisson Mining Resources. Mr. Gagnon was President of the Quebec Mining Exploration Association from 2007 to 2009.
President, Director
Brian Ostroff is a graduate of the University of Toronto (1986) having joined RBC Dominion Securities in 1987. In 1999 Mr. Ostroff joined M&A advisory firm Goodrich Capital where he was the Canadian managing partner overseeing mandates across a spectrum of industries with a focus on display technologies and mining. In 2004, Mr. Ostroff moved over to the trading side of the business as a proprietary trader with a large Canadian bank and then subsequently on his own for four years. Mr. Ostroff joined Windermere Capital in 2009, until 2022; his area of focus was the junior and mid-tier mining sector.
Chief Executive Officer, Director
Jeffrey Beck was the Founding Managing Director and Chairman of Ocean Partners Holding Limited, a base and precious metals trading company, from 2004 to 2020. Prior to this, Mr. Beck led Pechiney World Trade’s (“PWT”) Ores and Concentrates Division from 1992 to 2004. Mr. Beck graduated from Queen’s University in Mining (1980) and while working at ASARCO’s Tennessee zinc mines he also received his MBA from the University of Tennessee (1983). He then spent time at ASARCO headquarters in NYC in the Ores and Concentrates Department and with Elders Raw Materials before joining PWT.
Director
Claude Lafleur have served in senior management positions with several companies. For 16 years Mr. Lafleur was with Coop fédérée, including 8 years as its Chief Executive Officer. With its affiliated co-ops, Coop fédérée is Quebec’s largest agri-food organization. As well, Mr. Lafleur was CEO of IFFCO Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited), India’s largest fertilizer manufacturer. Currently, Mr. Lafleur is a member of Anges Quebec (Quebec Angels) and, continues to sit on several boards as Chairman.
Director
Mr. Bouchard is a 33-year veteran of the Alcan and Rio Tinto organizations, having most recently served as President of Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium until his retirement in May, 2013. Prior to that, Mr. Bouchard held the position of Vice President Primary Metal within Rio Tinto Alcan from March 2005 to February 2010. He was responsible for the operations and implementation of the strategy development for Primary Metal Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. Dominique holds a Master’s degree in Management from McGill University, graduated from the International Master’s Programme in Practicing Management (IMPM) from INSEAD University in France and obtained an Electrical Engineering degree from Laval University.
Director
Siva Pillay graduated from Southampton University in 1984, with a BSc Joint Honors in Accounting and Law. After 15 years of experience with various banks (The Bank of New York, Fortis and Standard Bank) working in the commodity finance and related fields, Mr. Pillay established his own boutique advisory company arranging Trade Project Finance. In 2004, Mr. Pillay assisted with the Ocean Partners MBO and subsequently in 2005 joined the company.
Director
James Cowley is a Metallurgical Engineer with an MBA in Finance. His 44-year career in engineering, project development, project finance, marketing, sales and distribution of raw materials and refined metals with Exxon, Climax Molybdenum, Amax, Bond International Gold, Rio Tinto and as a consultant give him insight to Arianne’s development challenges. He is currently a consultant and employee of Ocean Partners USA and is based in Utah, USA.
Director
Raef Sully is a 10-year veteran of Nutrien Ltd. (and its predecessor Potash Corp.), having most recently served as its Executive Vice President and CEO of their nitrogen and phosphate divisions. As head of these divisions, Dr. Sully was responsible for the leadership of its sizeable workforce and multi-billion-dollar revenue and EBITDA streams. Before his role at Nutrien Ltd., Dr. Sully was with Bain & Company in both Sydney, Australia and Houston, Texas. He is since July 2023 COO of Lilac Solutions, then CEO from February 2024.
Director
Steven Pinney is a 33-year veteran of the Mosaic Company and Cargill Inc., having served in various mining and operations roles from production management to President of Cargill Fertilizer, then finishing his career at Mosaic as Senior Vice President of Phosphates and Supply Chain for a business unit with $4.5 billion in annual revenue. Steve’s experience in phosphate incudes production, manufacturing, procurement, environmental, health and safety, finance, human resources, public and governmental affairs and engineering. His broad management experience focused on the entire phosphate mining to fertilizer products value chain will greatly enhance Arianne’s strategic development as a new global phosphate producer.
Chief Financial Officer
Ms. Ayotte is a member of the Certified Professional Accountants of Quebec and graduated from HEC Montréal with a Bachelor’s in Business Management and a D.E.S.S in public accounting (2008). Outside of Ms. Ayotte’s accounting profession, she also serves as President of Women in Mining- Montreal. Since 2008, Ms. Ayotte developed extensive mining knowledge, specifically in public accounting at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC). Among the many mining clients, she worked with, Ms Ayotte had been an important member of the team working on the Arianne account from 2016 to 2021 serving, most recently, as audit director.
Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Gaudreault graduated from the Laval University with a degree in Mining Engineering (2004) and a certificate in Business Administration from Mount Saint Vincent University (2005). Throughout his career, Mr. Gaudreault held operational positions focused primarily on open pit mine development and optimization. Previous to his role at IAMGOLD, Mr. Gaudreault worked on two expansions of ArcelorMittal’s Mont-Wright operation. Mr. Gaudreault is a member of the Order of Quebec Engineers and comes to Arianne with extensive knowledge of the Lac à Paul project having previously worked at Arianne as Mining Director. Mr. Gaudreault is a qualified person in accordance with NI 43-101, he responsible for the technical information on this website and is Chief Operating Officer for Arianne Phosphate.
