Executive Chairman - MAICD
Frank Poullas has spent over two decades working in the technology, investment banking and engineering sectors. Over the last 15 years Frank has been involved with assisting a number of public entities with funding, strategic direction which has resulted in increased shareholder value.
Frank is currently a director of several companies and continues to consult to public companies involved or looking at entering the Lithium-ion battery material sector. Read More…Duncan Glasgow
Group General Counsel & Company Secretary
Duncan is an experienced corporate and commercial lawyer and company secretary who has worked across several ASX listed companies as well as private companies in the energy, mining, retailing and industrial sectors.
His most recent role was as Director of Legal and Risk at Cater Care Holdings, a leading contract caterer in Australia where he was responsible for managing the risk, governance activities and corporate requirements for all the company’s operating entities. Prior to that he spent over 8 years at Wilmar Sugar Australia Limited as General Counsel & Company Secretary where he was responsible for assisting executives on corporate restructuring and M&A including due diligence, separation negotiation and documentation, consulting with tax and other advisors as well as regulators.
Duncan has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from Macquarie University, is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and a Fellow of the Governance Institute and holds an Unqualified Practicing Certificate from the Law Society of NSW.
Jurgen Behrens
Chief Financial Officer - BFin, FIPA, CTIA
Jurgen was appointed as Chief Financial Officer in April 2020 and holds a Bachelor of Degree in Finance from the Charles Sturt University, Bathurst as well as memberships at the Institute of Public Accountants (Fellow) and Taxation Institute of Australia (Chartered). Jurgen brings over 35 years of extensive and varied experience having worked in funds management, investment banking, life insurance, small and medium businesses and manufacturing throughout his career. Jurgen has held both senior leadership and technical roles in investment accounting and taxation, finance, pricing and valuations, portfolio asset transitions, compliance, project management and business process analytics.
Project Director – Nachu Graphite Project
Rod has 40 years of experience in the Minerals industry across Africa, Australia and South America, both in executive management roles and metallurgical project development roles from exploration to production.
Rod has largely resided in Africa for more than a decade and was CEO for Magnis when the Nachu Graphite Project was discovered, spearheading initial geological and metallurgical programs. Rod also played a key role in the commissioning of Paladin Energy’s (ASX:PDN) Langer Heinrich and Kayelekera projects. Prior to that Rod has worked for major miners including Newcrest (ASX:NCM) and Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD).Director of Battery Technologies
Dr Nerkar has nearly 20 years of experience in Lithium-ion batteries, electrochemical energy storage devices and supercapacitors. He obtained his M.Sc. Tech degree from TuDelft, in The Netherlands. He earned his Ph.D. degree from the University of Newcastle, through a fellowship from The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
Dr Nerkar was one of the co-investigators of Australia's first pilot facility to produce commercial graded Lithium-ion battery cells established at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). He has strong expertise in the development, scalable production and testing of next generation, high performance Lithium-ion battery materials including cells and battery packs. He has coordinated several commercially funded research projects directly by industries and indirectly under Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) program (AUTOCRC, IMCRC) on advanced Lithium-ion battery chemistries with a focus on cell and pack designing, prototyping and testing. Dr Nerkar is also currently serving as an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Science, School of Chemistry & Physics, at QUT.Jan Fuchter
Project Finance Director
Jan has over 20 years’ experience in finance transactions across the world including the project financing of mining projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He also played a leading role in several of the recent financings of Australian critical mineral projects.
In his previous roles at Export Finance Australia and investment and institutional banks, he successfully originated and executed project financing transactions globally, working with a diverse range of stakeholders in multiple countries and regions on the financing and development of projects, including notable project financing transactions in the mining and metals sector.
Con Hoursalas
Group Communications Manager
Mr Hoursalas has been working in the print media and digital design industry since 1994. With more than 25 years of graphic and web design experience, he has worked on international brands that include Nokia, Woolworths, Revlon, Nestle, Sony Music and several government projects. From fashion shoots to high end photoshop retouching and video production, Mr Hoursalas’ years abroad collaborating with international clients has enhanced his global insight in design trends.