Maxim Matveev is a Vice-President of Aterra Capital. He has more than 20 years of experience in corporate finance and equity capital markets. Prior to joining Aterra Capital in 2015, Maxim was a senior metals and mining analyst at ING Bank. Before he joined ING in 2008, he worked in the Corporate Finance department of Deutsche Bank, holding a Vice President position, where he had extensive experience in both M&A and capital markets transactions. Maxim holds Masters Degree in Science from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He is a CFA charterholder. Mr. Matveev is a nominee of Aterra.
Director of Silver Bear since July 2008. Mr. Gualtieri was previously Head of Equities and a Managing Director of Alfa-Bank, Russia's largest privately-owned bank. He was responsible for the Bank's equity brokerage and distribution through its international offices in London, New York, Kiev and Nicosia as well as for leading the sales and trading teams in Moscow. Prior to joining the Bank, Mr. Gualtieri was Group Managing Director of Franklin Templeton Asset Management in South Africa and previously headed Templeton's Moscow office. Mr. Gualtieri is licensed by the FSFM as an asset manager. Mr. Gualtieri holds an MA in Economics from the University of Toronto and was twice awarded the Simcoe Fellowship for academic achievement.
Director for Silver Bear since August 2014. Mr. Sotskov has more than 15 years of project management experience in the technology and business process optimization sectors. Currently, he is a Representative of Inflection. Previously, he was the Project Portfolio Manager of Technonicol, a large Russian manufacturer and distributor of construction materials. Prior to joining Technonicol, Mr. Sotskov led certain business optimization and ERP implementation programs for TNK-BP, a major vertically integrated Russian oil company headquartered in Moscow. Mr. Sotskov holds a Masters Degree in Science and Applied Mathematics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Mr. Sotskov is a nominee of Inflection.
Director for Silver Bear since October 2007 and appointed Non-Executive Chairman in January 2016. Mr. Westdal, a consultant and former Canadian diplomat with 40 years of international experience, was Ambassador to Russia (2003 to 2006), the United Nations in Geneva (1999 to 2003), Ukraine (1996 to 1998), South Africa (1991 to 1993) and Bangladesh and Burma (1982 to 1985). Prior assignments abroad included India and Nepal (from 1973 to 1975, responsible for Canadian International Development Agency programming) and Tanzania (from 1970 to 1973, as a member of a University of Toronto economic advisory team). In Ottawa, he was Director General of the Foreign Ministry’s International Organizations Bureau from 1987 to 1991, and Assistant Secretary at the Privy Council Office to the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Policy and Defense (1976 to 1978 and 1985 to 1987). He is currently also a director of Silver Bear Resources Inc. Mr. Westdal holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Johns College and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Manitoba.
Mr. V. Ilchuk has 19 years of experience in the mining industry and natural resource investment business. He has extensive background in mine finance and accounting, financial reporting, and cross-border M&A process and integration, as well as takeover rules and corporate governance. Mr. Ilchuk joined Silver Bear Resources, Inc from RT-Business Development, Inc where he held a position of Chief Financial Officer. He also served several years in various managerial roles in Kinross Gold Corporation in the United States and Russia.
Mr. Hunt has served on the Board of Directors of the Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association ("CERBA") since 1996 and was Chair of CERBA from 2009 to 2013. Mr. Hunt has over 25 years of international business experience involved in the import of food products from North America to Russia. Mr. Hunt was President of his own consulting firm Skylight Inc. and the Accredited Representative of the US Meat Export Federation in Russia. Mr. Hunt graduated summa cum laude / Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University in 1988 with a degree in Russian and East European Studies.
Mr. Grigoriev, a retired mining engineer has over 30 years of mining geological experience. Between 1973 to 1994, his career spanned from geologist to Chief Geologist through to Deputy General Director of the geological survey expedition in the Magadan Region of Far East Russia. He has discovered a number of gold and silver deposits in the Magadan region that are currently under development. From 1994 to 2004, Mr. Grigoriev served as Deputy Director-Chief Geologist Omsukchan Gold Mining Company. From 2004 through 2021, he served as Deputy General Director, Kupol and General Director, Dvoinoy, Kinross's Russian subsidiaries. Mr. Grigoriev graduated from Irkutsk state University, Russia in 1973 as geological engineer.
Dr. Kostin, has over 30 years of mining geological experience, since 1980 to 2022 he worked at the Diamond and Precious Metal Geology Institute, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russia; where from 2007 to present, he is Chief of the Laboratory of Geology and Mineralogy of Precious Metals. In 2013, Dr. Kostin received the "Discover of the Mineral Deposits" award by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, Russian Federation. Dr. Kostin's PhD in Geo-Mineralogical Science is from Moscow State University. He also earned a doctorate degree (D.Sc.) in Central Geological Research Institute for Nonferrous and Precious Metals (TsNIGRI), Moscow.