Electra is building North America’s only fully integrated, localized and environmentally sustainable battery materials park. Electra’s refinery complex can support primary refining and battery material recycling by leveraging existing infrastructure and equipment.
As the market expands, Electra can grow in conjunction, leveraging the Company’s own assets and business partners. The Electra Battery Materials Park will host cobalt and nickel sulfate production plants, a large-scale lithium-ion battery recycling facility, and battery precursor materials production, which will serve both North American and global customers. The project development pipeline provides optionality through its modularity, and a phased approach to expansion.
Board of directors
John Pollesel
Chairman
Member of : Audit Committee, Compensation, Governance and Nominating Committee and Technical and Sustainability Committee
John Pollesel
John Pollesel has over 30 years of experience in mining and most recently was Senior Vice President, Mining at Finning Canada. He was previously COO and Director of Base Metals Operations for Vale’s North Atlantic Operations, where he was responsible for the largest underground mining and metallurgical operations in Canada. Prior to this, he was Vice President and General Manager for Vale’s Ontario Operations. He also served as the CFO for Compania Minera Antamina in Peru, responsible for executive management in one of the largest copper/zinc mining and milling operations in the world. John is currently leading a private company that is developing an international fertilizer mining operation and serves on the board of directors for North American Construction Group and Noront Resources Ltd.
Trent Mell
Chief Executive Officer & Director
Member of : Technical and Sustainability Committee
Trent Mell
Trent Mell, Founder & CEO of Electra Battery Materials, leads Electra’s mission to create a fully integrated, localized, and environmentally sustainable battery materials supply chain in North America. With 25 years of international business experience, Trent has orchestrated 100+ transactions, from multimillion-dollar to over $10 billion, securing over $2 billion in capital. As a natural resources executive, he has extensive experience in capital markets, project development, operations and mineral processing with various companies, including Barrick Gold, Sherritt International, and North American Palladium. Trent is also a Board member for the Toronto French School and previously served on the Boards of Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited and Boost Child & Youth Advocacy Centre.
Trent holds an EMBA from the Kellogg School of Management and Schulich School of Business, a LL.M from Osgoode Hall as well as a B.A., B.C.L. and LL.B. from McGill University.
Gov. Butch Otter
Director
Member of : Audit Committee and Compensation, Governance and Nominating Committee
Gov. Butch Otter
Former Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter is an American businessman and politician who served as the 32nd Governor of Idaho, from 2007 to 2019. He was elected in 2006 and reelected in 2010 and 2014. Gov. Otter served as lieutenant governor for 14 years, from 1987 to 2001, and in U.S. Congress from the first district from 2001 to 2007. When he left office in January 2019, Gov. Otter was the longest-serving governor in the United States whose time in office had ran consecutively, at 12 years. His election win in 2014 was his tenth consecutive victory.
Before devoting his career full-time to politics. Gov. Otter spent more than 30 years as a business leader including 12 years as President of Simplot International.
Susan Uthayakumar
Director
Member of : Audit Committee
Susan Uthayakumar
Susan Uthayakumar leads the Prologis’ customer-focused sustainability and energy solutions business as Chief Energy and Sustainability Officer. In this capacity, she is responsible for evaluating and scaling both existing and emerging energy solutions across the Prologis platform. She also partners with Prologis’ environmental stewardship, social responsibility and governance (ESG) team on strategy, progress, stakeholder engagement and related initiatives.
Prior to joining Prologis, Susan was president of Schneider Electric’s Sustainability Business Division. During her 16-year tenure with the company, she was instrumental in transforming Schneider Electric to a digital power and automation technology company by driving sustainability, efficiency and resiliency. Before that, she was CEO of Schneider Canada. Uthayakumar recently was recognized as a 2021 Environment+Energy Leader 100 Honoree for successfully delivering climate mitigation action to enterprise customers.
Previously, Susan led strategy and M&A projects globally with McCain Foods Limited, an international leader in the frozen food industry, and held various leadership positions with Deloitte, a global advisory firm.
Susan has an Executive MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University with a focus on international business practices. In addition, she holds a Master of Accounting (MAcc) and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Waterloo.
Susan has also completed the Women’s Senior Leadership Program and Executive Scholar Certification from the Kellogg School of Management and holds the Chartered Accountant (CA) and Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designations.
Leadership Team
Mark Trevisiol, P.Eng.
Vice President, Project Development
Mark Trevisiol, P.Eng.
Mark Trevisiol is a professional engineer with 30 years of experience in mineral processing, mining, capital projects and executive management. He spent over 20 years with Glencore predecessor companies Falconbridge Ltd. and Xstrata Nickel, where he was General Manager of Business Development and Strategy, General Manager of the Sudbury Smelter Business Unit, Manager of Smelter Operations and Superintendent of the Kidd Creek Zinc Plant. More recently, Mark held a number of executive leadership and board positions, including CEO positions at Crowflight Minerals and Silver Bear Resources.
During his career, Mark has had responsibility in mining and mineral processing for teams of up to 300 people, with responsibility for operations, safety & environment, custom feed, engineering, maintenance and technology. He has a demonstrated track record of increasing plant efficiency and margins, notably in treating third party feeds. With Falconbridge Ltd., he championed a new recycling facility primarily designed to handle spent cobalt-based lithium batteries. He has worked across several commodities, including nickel, cobalt, zinc, copper, lithium, gold, and silver.
Mark has an Engineering degree from the University of Waterloo.
David Allen, CPA, CA
Chief Financial Officer
David Allen, CPA, CA
David Allen is a senior finance executive and business leader with over 30 years of experience, David has worked in the manufacturing, natural resources, shipping, real estate and financial services industries. He has extensive experience in CFO and senior finance roles with complex international companies and Fortune 250 Canadian companies, including TAAL, Canada Goose, Anaergia Inc. and Algoma Central Corporation. Over his career, David has demonstrated a strong ability to formulate and drive organizational strategies in a fast-paced and dynamic environment.
As Chief Financial Officer, David will manage all aspects of financial management at Electra, including the completion of the financing package for construction of North America’s first cobalt sulfate facility.
David is an accredited Chartered Professional Accountant and Chartered Accountant in the province of Ontario.
Michael Insulan
Vice President, Commercial
Michael Insulan
Michael Insulan has nearly 20 years of experience across oil and gas, bulk commodities, base and minor metals. He has worked for Royal Dutch Shell, CRU, and Eurasian Resources Group. Over the past four years, Michael has been primarily focused on the cobalt market where he has built a reputation as an industry expert.
As Vice President, Commercial, Michael will have overall responsibility for marketing of the Company’s refined cobalt sulfate production to electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers and battery cell makers. He will also be responsible for marketing recycled cobalt, nickel, lithium and other battery materials produced by Electra Battery Materials’ Canadian refinery under a proposed Phase 2 expansion to refine black mass recovered from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries.
Michael holds a PhD in Economics, focused on the extractive industries.
Heather Smiles
Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Development
Heather Smiles
Heather Smiles is a seasoned professional with nearly 15 years of expertise in investor relations, capital markets, strategic planning, and communications. Her career includes strategic roles with global metals and mining organizations including Electra (as First Cobalt), Baffinland Iron Mines, Golden Star Resources, and North American Palladium.
She is skilled at working alongside boards, executive teams, and operations and has a proven track record in analyzing business situations and implementing practical, strategic investor and stakeholder programs. Heather holds an Honours BSc. from the University of Toronto and carries the designation of a Certified Professional in Investor Relations (CPIR).
Dr. George Puvvada, P.Eng., PMP, PhD
Vice President, Metallurgy & Technology
Dr. George Puvvada, P.ENG., PMP, PhD
Dr. George Puvvada, P.Eng., PMP, PhD, is a highly qualified metallurgist with over 25 years of industrial metallurgical experience. Over his career, Dr. Puvvada built a reputation developing flowsheets for difficult ores and delivered projects for some of the world’s largest mining companies, including Vale, Xstrata and Barrick Gold.
As Electra Battery Materials Vice President, Metallurgy and Technology, Dr. Puvvada will be a key member of the senior leadership team tasked with executing on Electra refinery expansion and commissioning strategy and qualifying the Company’s cobalt sulfate product for inclusion in Western automaker electric vehicle batteries.
Prior to joining Electra, Dr. Puvvada was employed with Northern Sun Mining, overseeing all aspects of feed evaluation, metallurgical processing, lab supervision and project development. He previously spent several years as a metallurgist at the Peko Mine in Australia, testing, developing and piloting for the recovery of base and precious metals. Dr. Puvvada has also worked with some of the world’s leading metallurgical and engineering firms, including SNC Lavalin, Tetra Tech, Ortech and SGS.
Dr. Puvvada holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mineral Processing from Andhra University in India and a PhD in Extractive Metallurgy from the University of New South Wales in Australia.
Sabrina Gunness
Administration
Sabrina Gunness
Sabrina Gunness has more than a decade of office management experience in the financial industry. Prior to joining Electra Battery Materials, she held a dual role as an Institutional Trading Desk Sales Assistant and oversaw the daily office administration at Jennings Capital Inc. Sabrina is an experienced Branch Administrator for Retail Boutique Brokerage firms where she was responsible for the daily branch administration and direct supervision of sales assistants and support staff at MacDougall, MacDougall and MacTier and Blackmont Capital Inc.
Sabrina holds an Honours BSc. from the University of Toronto.