Board of directors

Tenure

Andrew was appointed to the Board in December 2021. He became Chairman in May 2022.

Nationality

United Kingdom

Experience

Andrew brings significant financial and natural resources experience to the Kenmare Board, as well as valuable commercial expertise, insight, and strategic leadership. He was previously a Managing Director at Rothschild & Co. in the Global Advisory team, where he worked for 25 years until September 2018. During this time, Andrew advised governments, private and listed companies and joint ventures on strategy, fundraising debt financings, mergers, on and off-market acquisitions, disposals, and restructurings. He currently acts as a non-executive director of several private companies and voluntary organisations and as a consultant to Berkeley Research Group.

Skills

Andrew has a BA & MA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge.

Tenure

Michael has been the Managing Director of Kenmare since 1986.

Nationality

Northern Ireland

Experience

He worked as a contracts engineer in Algeria and as a project engineer at Tara Mines, Ireland.

Skills

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers of Ireland (FIEI). He holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering (Queen’s University, Belfast) and an MBA (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania).

External appointments

Michael is a Director of Vico Camperdown Ltd, Merindol Ltd and Knockvaragh Investments Ltd.

Tenure

Tom joined Kenmare in September 2022.

Nationality

Ireland

Experience

Tom served for 15 years as Executive Director of various public companies. This includes eight years as Chief Financial Officer of the African and South American-focused oil and gas producer Tullow Oil plc from 2000 to 2008. Tom also held senior financial roles with the oil and gas exploration company Petroceltic International plc between 2010 and 2016, including latterly as Chief Financial Officer.

Tom has strong Board-level experience, having previously served as an Independent Non-Executive Director with United Oil & Gas plc and Petroneft Resources plc.

Skills

Tom has a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Diploma in Professional Accounting, both from University College Dublin, and he is a Fellow of the Irish Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Tenure

Elaine was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in November 2019. She is the Chair of the Sustainability Committee and is a member of the Nominations Committee and the Audit & Risk Committee.

Nationality

United States of America

Experience

Elaine has over 30 years’ experience in the mining, chemicals and engineering industries, including the mineral sands sector. Between March 2013 and January 2020 she served as Executive Vice President of Sustainability and External Relations for Newmont Goldcorp, the world’s leading gold mining company. Prior to that, she worked from 1992 to 2013 for Rio Tinto, holding positions including Global Head of Health, Safety and Environment, and Managing Director of Richards Bay Minerals in South Africa, a mineral sands mining and beneficiation company and a subsidiary of Rio Tinto.

Skills

Elaine holds a Bachelor of Science, magna cum laude, from Maryville College, Tennessee and a PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Colorado State University.

External appointments

Elaine sits on the Board of NASDAQ-listed Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation, JSE and NYSE-listed Sibanye Stillwater Ltd., and NYSE and TSX-listed Novagold Resources Inc.

Tenure

Graham was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in October 2016 and as Senior Independent Director in January 2022. He is Chairman of the Remuneration Committee and the Nominations Committee and is a member of the Sustainability Committee.

Nationality

United Kingdom

Experience

Graham is an experienced natural resources executive and brings a wealth of relevant expertise having served as an Executive Director, General Counsel and Company Secretary at Tullow Oil plc, an oil and gas exploration and production company listed on the London, Irish and Ghanaian Stock Exchanges. From 1997 until 2016, he was heavily involved in the growth of Tullow into a FTSE 100 business, and in the company’s active M&A programme, including the US$2.9 billion disposal of assets in Uganda. Prior to Tullow, he was a partner at the US energy law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP, having started his legal career in Scotland.

External Appointments

Graham is Non-Executive Chairman of United Oil & Gas plc, an AIM listed oil and gas company.

Tenure

Mette was appointed to the Board as Non-Executive Director in January 2022.

Nationality

Denmark

Experience

Mette has significant leadership experience in mining technology and automation. She is currently Regional President, Europe, North Africa, Russia/CIS for FL Smidth, an engineering, equipment and service solutions provider to the global mining and cement industries. She was previously a Director of FL Smidth A/S, and FL Smidth & Co. A/S which is listed on the Nasdaq OMX Exchange in Copenhagen.

Skills

Mette holds a Masters in Engineering and a Bachelor of Science (Commercial) from Københavns Teknikum, Copenhagen.

Tenure

Clever was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in June 2018. He is a member of the Sustainability Committee, the Audit & Risk Committee and the Remuneration Committee.

Nationality

Brazil

Experience

Clever has worked in the titanium industry for over thirty five years and has extensive knowledge and board-level management experience of mineral sands mining. He has experience of working in the titanium pigment and feedstock industries. He was responsible for developing Brazil’s only dredge-mined mineral sands operation, was Vice President of Global Supply and Mining for Millennium Inorganic Chemicals (now Cristal Global) in the US, and also served as Executive Director of Mineral Deposits Limited in Melbourne. Most recently, he was Chief Executive of TiZir Limited, where he was responsible both for the development of the Grand Côte mineral sands mine in Senegal, and its integration with the TTI smelter at Tyssedal, to form TiZir. He retired from TiZir in 2012.

Skills

He has a BSc in Mining Engineering from Universidade Federal De Pernambuco, and an MBA from Fundacao Getulio Vargas, both in Brazil.

Tenure

Deirdre was appointed to the Board in August 2020. She is the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and a member of the Remuneration Committee and the Nominations Committee.

Nationality

Ireland

Experience

Deirdre has over 20 years’ experience in senior management positions, having served as Chief Executive of the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) from 2007 to 2018 and, prior to that, as its Director of Listing. She led the ISE’s transformation to a highly profitable entity with global specialisms culminating in its sale in March 2018 to Euronext NV. She also held the position of President and Board Chair of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges from 2015 to 2018.

Skills

Deirdre is a qualified Chartered Accountant and she worked with KPMG for 8 years. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University College Cork.

External

Since April 2019, Deirdre has acted as an Independent Non-Executive Director of the following investment entities, all of which are listed on the London Stock Exchange: iShares plc, iShares II plc, iShares III plc, iShares IV plc, iShares V plc, iShares VI plc and iShares VII plc. She also serves as an Independent Non-Executive Director for BlackRock Institutional Pooled Funds plc and Institutional Cash Series plc, both of which are listed on Euronext Dublin, and M&G General Partner Inc and Episode Inc., which is quoted on Euronext Dublin.

Tenure

Issa was appointed to the Board in January 2023.

Nationality

Oman

Experience

Issa is a Manager in Economic Diversification Investments at Oman Investment Authority (OIA). He has more than 10 years of experience in the financial industry and has worked as a portfolio manager for several OIA assets nationally and internationally. Previously he worked at the Central Bank of Oman as a bank examiner and at EY in Oman as a Financial Analyst.

Skills

He holds a Master’s degree in Financial Analysis from UNSW, Sydney and a Bachelor of Science, Finance from SQU, Muscat.

External appointments

Issa is a director of several private companies owned by OIA or state-owned enterprises but is not a director of any publicly quoted companies.