Vulcan
Team Zero Carbon
Our most important resource: our team of world-renowned experts in chemistry, engineering and geology.
We’re from all over the globe, bound together with one goal in common: decarbonising the transition to electric vehicles.
Meet the Vulcan Zero Carbon Lithium™ team.
Board
Our team of world-renowned experts in geology, chemistry and engineering is supported by a Board with decades of leadership and expertise in the lithium industry, geology, and investment banking.
Gavin Rezos
B.Juris, LLB, BA, Law, Economics, International Politics
Chair
- Executive Chair/CEO positions of two companies that grew from start-ups to the ASX 300.
- Extensive international investment banking experience.
- Investment banking Director of HSBC with senior multi-regional roles in investment banking, legal and compliance functions.
- Currently Chair of Resource and Energy Group and principal of Viaticus Capital.
- Previously Non-Executive Director of Iluka Resources, Alexium International Group.
Dr. Francis Wedin
PhD & BSc (Hons) Geology & Mineral exploration, MBA in renewable energy
Managing Director & Founder – CEO
- Founder of Vulcan Zero Carbon Lithium™ Project. Lithium industry executive since 2014.
- Previously Executive Director of ASX-listed Exore Resources Ltd.
- Three discoveries of JORC Lithium Resources on two continents including Lynas Find, now part of Pilbara Minerals’ Pilgangoora Project in production.
- Management & Executive experience in resources sector on four continents; bilingual; dual Swedish & Australian nationality.
Dr. Horst Kreuter
PhD Engineering Geology, MSc Applied Geology
Co-Founder & Board Advisor
- Ex-CEO of Geothermal Group Germany GmbH and GeoThermal Engineering GmbH (GeoT).
- Co- Founder of Vulcan Zero Carbon Lithium™ Project.
- Successful geothermal project development & permitting in Germany and worldwide.
- Widespread political, investor and industry network in Germany and Europe.
- Based in Karlsruhe, local to the project area in the Upper Rhine Valley.
Annie Liu
BEng Industrial Engineering & Operations Research
Independent Non-Executive Director
- Former Tesla Head of Battery and Energy Supply Chain.
- Led and managed Tesla’s multi-billion-dollar strategic partnerships and sourcing portfolios that support Tesla’s Energy and Battery business units including Battery, Battery Raw Material, Energy Storage, Solar and Solar Glass, including raw materials sourcing efforts such as lithium for battery cells.
- 20 years’ experience with Tesla and Microsoft.
Dr. Heidi Grön
PhD Chemical Process Engineering, Dip. Chemical Engineering
Independent Non-Executive Director
- Dr. Grön is a chemical engineer by background with 20 years’ experience in the chemicals industry.
- Since 2007, Dr. Grön has been a senior executive with Evonik, one of the largest specialty chemicals companies in the world, with a market capitalization of €14B and 32,000 employees.
- At Evonik, Dr. Grön is currently responsible for:
- Global product Safety including impact assessment and development of solutions for the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability;
- Management of Evonik’s major investment volumes and production network.
Josephine Bush
CTA, MA (Hons) Law CFA, ESG investing, Sustainable Finance Certification
Independent Non-Executive Director
- Member of the EY Power and Utilities Board.
- Led and delivered the EY Global Renewables and Sustainable Business Plan and spearheaded a series of major Renewable Market Transactions.
- Successfully advised on the first environmental yieldco London Stock Exchange listing, Greencoat UK Wind PLC.
- Ms. Bush is a Chartered Tax Advisor, holds an MA Law degree from St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and brings a wealth of experience in ESG strategic advisory.
Ranya Alkadamani
BA Media, Communication, Media Studies, MA International Relations & Affairs, MA International Communications
Independent Non-Executive Director
- Founder of Impact Group International.
- A communications strategist, focused on amplifying the work of companies that have a positive social or environmental impact.
- Experience in working across media markets and for high profile people, including one of Australia’s leading philanthropists, Andrew Forrest and Australia’s then Foreign Minister and former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.
Julia Poliscanova
BA (Hons) Politics, French. MSc Energy
Special Advisor
- Senior Director with the EU’s Transport and Environment.
- Instrumental in shaping policies around EU vehicle CO2 standards & sustainable batteries.
- On the steering committee for the Battery CO2 Passport program of the Global Battery Alliance.
- Previously worked for the Mayor of London and in the European Parliament following EU legislation on renewables, energy efficiency and sustainable transport.
Rob Ierace
CA, CSA BComs Accounting & Finance
CFO
- Robert is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Secretary with over 20 years experience, predominately with ASX and AIM listed resource and oil and gas exploration and production companies.
- He has extensive experience in financial and commercial management including experience in corporate governance, debt and capital raising, tax planning, risk management, treasury management, insurance, corporate acquisitions and divestment and farm in/farm out transactions.
- Robert holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Curtin University, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Corporate Governance from the Governance Institute of Australia and a Graduate Certificate of Applied Finance and Investment from the Securities Institute of Australia
Daniel Tydde
BA, Law, Commerce
Company Secretary & In-House Legal Counsel
- Daniel is an experienced corporate lawyer with over 15 years’ experience across a wide range of corporate, commercial and finance areas including initial public offerings; equity and debt capital raisings; corporate regulatory compliance; asset and share sales and purchases; corporate governance; corporate restructuring and re-organisations; and litigation.
- Most recently, Daniel held a senior position at Steinepreis Paganin and prior to that, worked at Clayton Utz and Phillips Fox (now DLA Piper).
Jess Bukowski
BA, Social Science, Grad. Cert Business (Public Relations)
Public and Investor Relations Manager
- Jess has extensive experience advising top 20 ASX companies on communications, media and investor relations, including six years with Fortescue Metals Group as Senior Media and Corporate Affairs Specialist.
- Jess was previously an adviser to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd working across government and international organisations.
- She brings academic qualifications in social policy and community development from the Unversity of Queensland and post-graduate qualifications in public relations and investor relations.
Thorsten Weimann
Diploma Mechanical Engineering (TU), MBA
Chief Operating Officer
- Expert in geothermal and drilling technology, with more than 25 years of professional experience.
- Thorsten is Technical Manager of the German Geothermal Association (Bundesverband Geothermie e.V.) and he is well connected in the German geothermal industry.
- Mr. Weimann has a diploma in Engineering (Technical University of Munich) and an MBA (Universities of Augsburg and Pittsburgh).
Dr. Stephen Harrison
PhD Chemical Engineering, MSc Electrochemical Science
Chief Technical Officer
- A diverse multi-industry background in electrochemistry and lithium extraction, with thorough knowledge of all steps of industry process/product commercialisation in the lithium industry dating back to 1998.
- CTO of Simbol Materials for seven years (2008-2015), where he led the scientific and engineering teams through a rapid process development, taking less than one year to develop a process to extract lithium from geothermal brine, which is today recognised as the lowest cost production method to lithium hydroxide.
- As CEO of Rakehill Technology LLC, Dr. Harrison has since consulted to the lithium industry on various lithium extraction technologies including sorbents.
Vincent Ledoux-Pedailles
BA International Business, MA Green & Sustainable Business Environment, Risk Management
Vice President – Business Development
- Vincent has over 10 years of commercial experience in the chemicals and mining industry.
- Vincent was previously Executive Director – Corporate Strategy at Infinity Lithium Corporation, where Vincent led the project to become the first to secure EU funding.
- Vincent was also appointed as a Lithium Expert by the European Commission.
- He previously worked at IHS Markit where he led the lithium and battery materials research team covering the entire industry’s supply chain from raw materials to E-mobility.
- Mr. Ledoux-Pedailles holds a Business Masters in Risk Management and International Purchasing from ESDES Business School in France.
Markus Ritzauer
MBA
Chief Financial Officer – Vulcan Energie
- Markus has over 20 years’ experience in finance roles within the chemicals industry.
- Formerly Head of Finance at Currenta, a chemical park service provider in Germany, with ~EUR 1.7bn turnover, ~5,300 employees and ~EUR 250m EBITDA.
- Markus was also CFO of the Bayer Group of companies in South Korea, and prior to that was Head of Corporate M&A in the APAC region for Bayer.
Energy Business
Planning and consultancy company for deep geothermal energy projects, based in the Upper Rhine Valley, Germany. Highly credentialed scientific team with >100 years of combined world-leading expertise. Created in 2005.
Engineering company focused on deep geothermal projects at surface: power plant, heat stations, drill pads, and permitting. More than 300 years engineering knowledge of gec-co’s team. Created in 2012.
Lithium Business
Project Development team based in Germany. World-leading experts in the fields of lithium chemistry, DLE and chemical engineering.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS & PUBLIC RELATIONS
Germany
Australia
Board of Directors
Gavin Rezos
Chairman
Dr. Francis Wedin
Managing Director & Founder – CEO
Dr. Horst Kreuter
Co-Founder and Board Advisor
Annie Liu
Independent Non-Executive Director
Dr. Heidi Grön
Independent Non-Executive Director
Josephine Bush
Independent Non-Executive Director
Ranya Alkadamani
Independent Non-Executive Director
Julia Poliscanova
Special Advisor
Rob Ierace
CFO
Daniel Tydde
Company Secretary & In-House Legal Counsel
Stock Exchange Listing
Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX Code: VUL)
Auditors
RSM Australia Partners
Level 32, 2 The Esplanade
Perth WA 6000
Solicitors
Ashurst
Brookfield Place Tower II
Level 10 & 11 St Georges Terrace
Perth WA 6000
Registered Office
Level 11, Brookfield Place
125 St Georges Terrace
Perth WA 6000
Telephone: 08 6189 8767
https://v-er.eu
Automic Share Registry
Level 2, 267 St Georges Terrace
Perth WA 6000
Telephone: 1300 288 664
https://www.automicgroup.com.au/
Corporate Governance
The Company is committed to complying with the highest standards of corporate governance to ensure that all of its business activities are conducted fairly, honestly and with integrity in compliance with all applicable laws. To achieve this, the Company’s board of directors (Board) has adopted a number of charters and policies which aim to ensure that value is created whilst accountability and controls are commensurate with the risks involved.
The Board believes that the Company’s policies and practices comply with the recommendations set out in the ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations – 4th Edition (Recommendations).
Together with the Company’s constitution (Constitution), the following charters and policies have been adopted by the Company to achieve a high standard of corporate governance: