Bjorn Inge Tonnessen
Chairman of the Board
Mr. Tonnessen is President and CEO of Edge Petroleum AS, a private exploration and production company focused on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
From June 2012 to June 2016 he was President and CEO of Spike Exploration AS, now part of Point Resources AS. Prior to that Mr. Tonnessen was Executive VP for the Svenska Group, a private Swedish-based exploration and production company. As well as being the Managing Director in the Norwegian subsidiary, his main responsibility was to manage all of the Group’s existing licenses, these being a mix of exploration, development and producing assets in Norway, Sweden and several countries in Africa.
He was formerly the senior energy analyst with DNB Markets from January 2003 to July 2007 and an equity analyst with Handelsbanken Capital Markets from October 2001 to November 2002. Prior thereto he was employed by the Svenska Group in a variety of progressively more senior roles including exploration and production manager for a large part of the company’s portfolio. Mr. Tonnessen has also been working as an offshore drilling engineer for several years.
Mr. Tonnessen holds a Bachelors’ degree in Petroleum Engineering from Stavanger University in Norway and an MBA equivalent degree from Stockholm University in Sweden. He became Chairman of the Board of Questerre in June 2015.
Michael Binnion
President and Chief Executive Officer
Michael Binnion is the President and CEO and founding shareholder of Questerre Energy, established in November 2000. Questerre is a public oil and gas production company with operations in Alberta, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Jordan.
Mr. Binnion is a seasoned entrepreneur with a history of starting, financing and managing companies and not-for- profits. He has extensive experience as a board member for several high-tech companies in Canada. Additionally, he is the Executive Director of Rupert’s Crossing Ltd., a private merchant banking firm.
He is also Chairman of both High Arctic Energy Services and the Manning Foundation. Most recently he founded the Modern Miracle Network, an organization of Canadians wanting adult conversations about the benefits and impacts of energy use.
A fifth-generation Albertan born in Calgary, Mr. Binnion is not only passionate about entrepreneurship but also a community-minded individual concerned with the prospects for future generations of Canadians. He is the founder and chairman of the Lesley Binnion Foundation for Disabled Sports, helping hundreds of kids and families make the extraordinary achievement of learning to ski a reality.
Mireille Fontaine
Director
Ms. Fontaine has over 25 years’ experience with a focus on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and commercial law where she specialized in cross-border transactions and advises international players looking to do business in Quebec and Canada. She has been a partner with BCF Business Law since 2016, one of the largest Quebec-based law firms, with over 500 employees and 300 professionals. Mireille co-chairs both BCF’s Foreign Investment and International Growth group as well as the Corporate Finance Business Unit and is a member of the Governance Committee.
Ms. Fontaine holds a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Montreal and is a member of the Bar of Quebec. Her expertise is recognized in numerous prestigious national and international legal publications, such as the Best Lawyers in Canada, Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, Lawyers World Wide magazine, Who’s Who Legal, Who’s Who International, Lawyer 100 Canada and the Expert Guides.
Hans Jacob Holden
Director
Mr. Holden has over twenty five years’ experience in the international oil and gas industry, with a focus on corporate finance in the last sixteen years. Mr. Holden is based in Oslo, Norway.
He currently works in the Business Development division of AF Gruppen, a Norwegian contracting and industrial group. Prior thereto, he was a director of Seatankers Group, a private investment company with a broad portfolio within the energy and maritime sector from January to November 2017. From 2004 to 2016, Mr. Holden was employed by Pareto Securities AS, a Norwegian-based brokerage firm and from 2000 to 2004 he was employed by DnB Markets, the investment banking group of Norway’s largest bank. Prior thereto, he was employed as section manager in the reservoir department of Saga Petroleum ASA, a public Norwegian oil company.
Mr. Holden holds a Master of Science in Industrial Economics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Dennis Sykora
Director
Mr. Sykora is an independent businessman who has worked for over 20 years in the oilfield services industry, primarily on international operations.
From 2007 to 2014, served as an executive of High Arctic Energy Services Inc., a public oilfield service company, including Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining High Arctic, for 10 years he served as President of International Operations for a Canadian based drilling contractor. Prior to that, he spent 15 years as a lawyer and Chartered Accountant with Felesky Flynn and Ernst & Young in Calgary, specializing in tax planning to the oil industry.
Dennis is a member of both the Law Society of Alberta and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta.
