Management and Board of Directors

Highly experienced team in mine exploration, mine finance and mine development

Kenneth Lapierre
Interim President and CEO & Director
Kenneth Lapierre

Ken Lapierre is the founder President and CEO and Director of Rockcliff Metals Corporation. Mr. Lapierre is a Member of Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario. A Professional Geologist, with over 35 years experience in exploration, discovery, production and mining in base and precious metals across North and South America, raising over $165 million in equity markets and has discovered and acquired CAD$10 billion worth of metal including: Cu, Zn, Au and Ag.

In the past Mr. Lapierre occupied the position of Vice President-Exploration of Tyranex Gold, Inc., President, Chief Executive Officer & Director at Rockcliff Resources, Inc., President at JML Resources Ltd. and Director at Grid Metals Corp.

Mr. Lapierre holds an Honours BSc. Geology/Earth Science degree from Western University, Canada.

Omar Gonzalez
CFO
Omar Gonzalez

Mr. Gonzalez has over 20 years’ experience in audit & assurance in South America, included 5 years of public and private audit practice, financial analysis, and corporate development in Canada. He is bilingual in English and Spanish and has led many assurance & non-assurance engagements for companies in the energy, mining & natural resources, real estate, manufacturing, and consumer business sector. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant in Ontario and Venezuela and holds a bachelor degree with major in Accounting from the Santa Maria University.

Mark Sawyer
Chairman of the Board
Mark Sawyer

Co-founder of Greenstone Resources, a Tier-1 Private Equity Mining and Metals Company.

Mr. Sawyer is a Director of the Board of Rockcliff Metals. He co-founded Greenstone Resources in 2013 after a 16-year career in the mining sector. Prior to establishing Greenstone, Mr. Sawyer was GM and Co-Head Group Business Development at Xstrata plc where he was responsible for originating, evaluating and negotiating new business development opportunities for Xstrata.

Prior to Xstrata Mr Sawyer held senior roles at Cutfield Freeman & Co (a boutique corporate advisory firm in the mining industry) and at Rio Tinto plc. Mr Sawyer is a solicitor and a resident of the United Kingdom

Mr. Sawyer hold as Bachelor of Laws from University of Southampton, UK.

Petra Decher
Independent Director
Petra Decher

Currently CFO of Marimaca Mining Corp.(TSX listed), served as Lead Independent Director of Integra Gold Corp. (TSX-V listed) until its acquisition by Eldorado Gold Corporation in July 2017. 

Ms. Decher is an experienced finance executive with over 15 years in the mining industry, with extensive experience in public reporting, corporate governance, compliance, M&A and investor relations. From 2009 to 2016, Ms Decher was the Vice President, Finance and Assistant Secretary of Franco-Nevada Corporation, a royalty and streaming company. Prior to Franco-Nevada, Ms. Decher was the President and Chief Financial Officer for Geoinformatics Exploration Inc., a global exploration company focused on projects in British Columbia, Nevada, Mexico and Australia.

Ms. Decher is a Canadian Chartered Public Accountant and holds a Diploma in Public Accountancy from McGill University and Bachelor’s degree in Finance from Concordia University. She is a Canadian resident.

Gordon Graham
Independent Director
Gordon Graham

Mr. Graham has over 30 years of experience in the mining and industrial sectors, leading operations and project development teams through the industrial lifecycle from project identification, development and transition into operations. Mr. Graham has held senior positions at several companies, including ENGCOMP Engineering Professionals, DMC Mining Services, BHP Billiton Inc. and Barrick Gold Corporation.

Mr. Graham holds degrees in Mining Engineering from Queen’s University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

Derek Macpherson
Independent Director
Derek Macpherson

Mr. Macpherson joined Norvista in 2021. He has a Bachelor of Engineering and Management in Materials Science (Metallurgy) from McMaster University and a Master of Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business. He was Senior Vice President, Investment Banking at Red Cloud Securities Inc. and prior to that was Vice President, Mining Analyst at Red Cloud. Besides investment banking and research his work at Red Cloud, particularly during its early years, his work included retail and institutional sales, and marketing. Preceding his 5 years at Red Cloud, he worked in mining equity research at both bank-owned and boutique Canadian investment banks, providing him 10 years of capital markets experience. Prior to completing his MBA and joining capital markets he worked for 6 years as a metallurgist. Mr. Macpherson is currently, President and CEO of Gold79 Mines Ltd.