Mark J. Morabito
B.A., J.D.
Executive Chairman
Mr. Morabito has over 15 years’ experience in public markets with a strong focus on junior mining with extensive experience in capital-raising and corporate development. Mr. Morabito founded and has been the principal driving force behind a number of successful resource development companies including Alderon Iron Ore Corporation, Crosshair Energy Corporation, Excelsior Mining Corp and others. He led the team that struck an off-take agreement with Hebei, China’s largest steel producer, worth over $400 million. He is also the founder of King & Bay West (formerly Forbes West), which specializes in identifying, funding, developing and managing resource-based opportunities, with a special interest in the junior mining sector. Mr.Morabito has a BA from Simon Fraser University and completed his J.D. at the University of Western Ontario.
Danny Williams
QC
Mr. Williams served as Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador from October 2003 until November 2010, retiring from the position at a time when his government had an approval rating of over 80%. In addition to his distinguished public service career, Mr. Williams has also been deeply involved in private sector business development in the province. Early in his career, Mr. Williams led a consortium of business people seeking Newfoundland and Labrador’s first cable television licence. From 1975, he guided Cable Atlantic through acquisitions of systems in Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, Corner Brook, Port aux Basques and other centers, to become one of the largest communications companies in Atlantic Canada. He has also been involved in Newfoundland and Labrador’s oil and gas industry as president of offshore oil and gas supply and services company OIS Fisher (later Spectrol), and in the hospitality and tourism industry through the operation of three golf courses and one hotel resort. Mr. Williams studied political science and economics at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Awarded the Rhodes Scholarship in 1969, he received a degree in Arts in Law from Oxford University in England, and returned to Canada to earn a Bachelor of Law degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax. He practiced law in Newfoundland and Labrador beginning in 1972 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1984.
Tayfun Eldem
P.Eng.
Mr. Eldem has worked for the Iron Ore Company of Canada, a Rio Tinto subsidiary, for more than 20 years, including 3 years as a Director on the join-venture Board. During this period, Mr. Eldem held many senior roles including Vice President, Expansion Projects & Engineering and Vice President, Operations & Engineering. Most recently Mr. Eldem was accountable for the development and delivery of a nearly $2.0 billion program of green and brown fields expansion projects. Prior to his Projects role, Mr. Eldem was responsible for all of IOC’s Operations including the mine, process plants, rail and port facilities. Mr. Eldem led a team of about 2,000 to deliver two consecutive years of record annual material movement at the mine and record ore processing through the concentrator. He will be instrumental in maintaining our aggressive timeline to production. Mr. Eldem holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Dalhousie University along with Operations & Strategic Management Certificates from Richard Ivey School of Business and London Business School.
Lenard Boggio
B.A., B.Comm., FCA, CPA (Illinois), ICD.D
Mr. Boggio was a Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PwC”) and its predecessor firm Coopers & Lybrand from 1988 until his retirement from PwC in May 2012. During that time, he was Leader of the B.C. Mining Group of PwC, a senior member of PwC’s Global Mining Industry Practice and an audit practitioner for publicly listed Canadian, U.S. and U.K. mineral resource and energy clients. The scope of his clients' activities included exploration, development and production stage operations in the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia. Mr. Boggio holds a B.A. and B.Comm. from the University of Windsor, Ontario and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia. He earned his CPA designation in Illinois and is a Member of the State Boards of Accountancy in Illinois and Washington State. He also holds an ICD.D designation and is a Member of the Institute of Corporate Directors. Mr. Boggio's other roles include Board Member and Vice-Chair of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, Commissioner of the Financial Institutions Commission of B.C., a Member of the Ontario Securities Commission's Continuous Disclosure Advisory Committee and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of B.C. Technical Forum that advised the B.C. Securities Commission and TSX Venture Exchange on policy and interpretation issues.
Brian Dalton
Mr. Dalton co-founded a number of successful private mineral exploration and exploration service companies prior to co-founding Altius in 1997. Since 1997 he has served as the President and CEO of Altius, during which time it has achieved strong growth and is now a member of the TSX SmallCap Index. He is a member of the Board of Regents of Memorial University and has been a volunteer for various charitable fundraising campaigns in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Matt Simpson
B.Sc. (Engineering), MBA
From 2002 to 2010, Mr. Simpson worked for the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), a subsidiary of Rio Tinto plc with annual production capacity of 17.5 million tonnes of iron ore concentrate as publicly reported in 2009. At IOC he held several progressive roles in Business Evaluation, Operations Planning, Continuous Improvement and for the past three years as Mine General Manager. His work with the IOC primarily took place at their Carol Lake iron ore deposit in Labrador. Prior to joining IOC, Mr. Simpson worked as a process engineer for Hatch Ltd. designing and debottlenecking metallurgical refineries around the world. Mr. Simpson has extensive experience in mine design, operations and project management. He holds a Master of Business Administration as well as a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering both from Queen’s University.
John Baker
Q.C.
Mr. Baker is the senior partner and chairman of a leading Newfoundland and Labrador law firm and carries on an extensive mining, securities, and corporate/commercial practice. His history of public company, community and volunteer directorships is considerable. Mr. Baker's volunteer contributions have been recognized with the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal, the Canadian Bar Association Award for Distinguished Public Service and a Paul Harris Fellowship by Rotary International. He was recently named "St. John's Corporate Lawyer of the Year" by the respected peer review publication Best Lawyers®.
David Porter
MBA
Mr. Porter is a seasoned executive who has served as Vice President Human Resources & Organizational Effectiveness for the Iron Ore Company of Canada, a C$2Billion Canadian based Corporation. He has also been responsible for Operations, Safety, Health, Sustainable Development, Communications and Community Relations across the mining and steel sectors for over 33 years. Mr. Porter has lead the development and execution of business strategy, negotiated landmark agreements with international unions, governments and communities and lead business transformation initiatives.
Christopher Noel Dunn
CMA
Mr. Dunn is Managing Director of LMM. He has spent most of his career working in investment banking, primarily with Goldman Sachs, managing a capital underwriting business in London. In later years, he worked with Bear Stearns and JP Morgan as a leader of their respective investment banking practices in mining and metals. Mr. Dunn is a non-executive director of Pan American Silver Corp. and Pretium Resources Inc.
John Vettese
LLB
Mr. Vettese is a corporate finance and M&A lawyer and is the Deputy Managing Partner of Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP. He is also a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. He has acted and continues to act as lead counsel for several companies in the mining sector. Mr. Vettese had previously acted as lead counsel to Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Ltd. He has consistently been recognized as one of the Best Lawyers in Canada in the area of Natural Resource Law.
Ms. Zheng brings 21 years of international trade and investment experience to Alderon. Ms. Zheng was Deputy General Manager of Handan Iron and Steel Group Import & Export Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hebei from 2006 to 2008. Since 2009, she has been with Hebei Iron and Steel Group International Trade Corporation, also a subsidiary of Hebei. In 2011, she became Deputy General Manager of Hebei Iron and Steel Group International Trade Corporation, responsible for overseas investment and projects as well as equipment imports. Ms. Zheng received the title of Senior Engineer in 1999 and holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Hebei University of Technology, a Masters Degree from Wuhan University of Science and Technology and a Masters of Business Administration from Beijing Jiaotong University.
