BOARD OF DIRECTORS and Primary Management
David Kennedy
Managing Director, Metals and Alloys
David Kennedy founded Less Common Metals Ltd. (LCM, and now a subsidiary of Great Western Minerals Group) in 1992 and was Managing Director of LCM until his appointment in November 2008 as Managing Director, Metals and Alloys for Great Western Minerals Group. David has worked with rare-earth materials since 1976 and has published several papers on the technology and economics of rare earth alloy production. Some of his previous experience includes working as Technical Manager at Johnson Matthey Rare Earth Products.
David is a graduate in Metallurgy and a Chartered Engineer; he is also a Professional Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. David has held the positions of Chairman of the Liverpool Metallurgical Society and President of the Birmingham University Metallurgical Society.
Gary L. Billingsley, C.A., P.Eng., P.Geo.
Executive Vice President - Director
A professional engineer and geoscientist with more than 30 years' experience in the mineral industry—24 of them in Saskatchewan — Gary Billingsley has been an officer and director of several public mining and mineral exploration companies during the past 18 years. In addition to his experience with uranium and base-metal exploration, Mr. Billingsley has been directly involved with putting Saskatchewan's largest gold mine into production and, on three separate occasions, has played a major role in the discovery of diamond-bearing kimberlite.
James B. Engdahl
Director
With more than 20 years of experience in corporate finance at the executive level, Jim Engdahl has extensive expertise in financing mergers, acquisitions, and reorganizations. A former Vice President of Barclays Bank of Canada, Mr. Engdahl has served as President, CEO, and Director of Pacific & Western Trust, President and Director of Shore Gold Inc., and Vice President of Finance and Director of Claude Resources Inc., all of which are public companies. More recently, Mr. Engdahl was the Regional Advisory Partner of the corporate finance arm of one of Western Canada's largest accounting firms. This position came as a result of the accounting firm's purchase of Cascadia Ventures Inc.—a corporate financing and consulting group responsible for raising project financing in excess of $100 million—for which Mr. Engdahl was Managing Partner.
Mr. Engdahl was intimately involved in financing two producing gold mines in Saskatchewan. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of Formation Capital Inc., a TSE-listed company currently bringing a cobalt/copper mine into production in the United States. His expertise in corporate finance, the global regulatory regime, and specialty metals will help enable Great Western Minerals Group and Great Western Technologies to wisely manage their forward growth.
David E. Smith
Director, Technical Services
David Smith has more than 25 years' experience in the field of vacuum induction melting. David's experience includes a wide range of alloy development knowledge that covers aerospace alloys, rare earth magnets, and battery and hydrogen storage alloy materials. Past work exposure includes both R&D and production alloys with Howmet Corp. and Ovonic Battery Company. Mr. Smith will be directing efforts to develop new products and processes for GWTI.
