GROVE - Key Persons
A graduate from the University of Toulon with a degree in Finance and the Business Administration Accounting program at George Brown College, Ann Nguyen brings her knowledge and expertise to Grove and our clients as a member of the Accounting and Finance team. Ann manages clients' financial administration, banking, payroll and complex bookkeeping and reconciliation.
Job Titles:
- Communications Assistant
- CLIENT COMMUNICATIONS
Annika Fairhurst is a communications assistant with a background in research and data entry. Annika holds a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology and History from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Barrington Miller brings more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, most recently serving as the Director of Issuer Engagement at the Canadian Securities Exchange where he was responsible for the retention of listed companies through a variety of marketing efforts. In addition, Mr. Miller was a primary touch point for business development and conducted educational and outreach initiatives both for, and about, the CSE. Prior to joining the Canadian Securities Exchange, Barrington spent nearly a decade working as a professional trader with Dundee Securities and Raymond James in Toronto as well as a commodities trader with Weyerhaeuser and a sugar trader with ED&F Man in New York and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Barrington is a graduate of Princeton University.
Benoit Potvin is a sales professional with a strong background in managing key accounts, spearheading strategy, and refining sales processes. Ben holds a Bachelor's Degree in Financial Economics from King's College at the University of Western Ontario.
Job Titles:
- DIRECTOR, CORPORATE AFFAIRS
Catherine Beckett has worked for Grove for over ten years. She started her career in the mineral exploration industry. For the past 20 years Catherine has provided corporate secretarial services, regulatory filings, and administrative support for publicly listed companies on the TSX, CSE and ASX, as well as for private small-cap exploration companies. Catherine's familiarity with National Instrument and JORC policies in Canada and Australia, respectively, enables her to assist company management in avoiding potential pitfalls of regulatory and corporate filings in a cost-efficient manner. Catherine holds a degree in Geology from the University of Toronto.
Job Titles:
- ISSUER CFO
- Senior Finance Executive
David Bhumgara is a senior finance executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience and proven expertise in finance, financial reporting, accounting, corporate finance, budgeting, financial modelling, and mergers and acquisitions, as well as hands-on experience with IT and HR responsibilities. David possesses strong technical skills and throughout his career has led numerous ERP and financial reporting controls implementations. David's focus lies on small-to-medium sized publicly and privately held organizations.
Job Titles:
- BOOKKEEPER, ACCOUNTING SERVICES
- Junior Accountant from Nepal
Dipesh is a Junior Accountant from Nepal where he has experience of bookkeeping in private sector. He has a background in accounting from Seneca College. He joins the Grove team to assist our clients who use Grove for their Accounting and CFO services.
Job Titles:
- CFO
- Controller
- DIRECTOR, ACCOUNTING SERVICES
Donna McLean has served as CFO and Controller for numerous publicly traded and private companies, managing financial reporting and controls as well as corporate secretarial admin for established and emerging businesses, operating in a variety of business sectors. She has worked for several mineral exploration companies including Aurania Resources Ltd., Unigold Inc., Signature Resources Ltd., and Avidian Gold Corp.
Job Titles:
- ACCOUNTING and PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
- Chartered Accountant and Former Partner at Shimmerman Penn LLP
Geoff Kritzinger is a Chartered Accountant and former Partner at Shimmerman Penn LLP (2001-2008) where he managed a large audit practice. Since then, through his accounting practice, he has acted for several public and private companies within and outside the resources sectors as both CFO and advisor. Geoff has worked with Grove and Grove's clients for nearly twelve years, providing both hands-on and supervisory & advisory functions to maintain overhead costs while meeting the rigorous and demanding reporting standards in the current regulatory environments.
After moving to Canada from Vietnam where she started her journey in accounting and bookkeeping working for a company that provided third-party administration to mutual funds, Hang Phan completed an advanced certificate diploma program in Business Administration, specializing in Accounting, at George Brown College. Hang successfully completed several internships in the bookkeeping and office administration positions before joining Grove as a full-time accounting associate.
Job Titles:
- CFO
- Controller
- SENIOR CONTROLLER & CFO
Hatem Kawar has been a controller and/or CFO for several public mining companies in Canada for the past 20 years and acted as a project manager for an industrial minerals operation in Saudi Arabia. In his current role with Grove, Hatem serves as a Financial Controller of several private and public companies and as CFO of two public mining companies. Hatem has a degree in Engineering from the University of Liverpool in the UK as well as MBA in Finance from the Schulich School of Business at York University.
Helga Fairhurst has over 15 years of experience providing corporate administrative and secretarial services to public companies listed on the TSX, TSXV, and CSE within the mining industry. Helga has worked for several mineral exploration companies including U.S. Silver Corporation (now U.S. Silver and Gold Inc.), Carlisle Goldfields Limited, and 55 North Mining Inc.
Igor has 11 years of international experience in corporate governance, compliance, and corporate administrative and secretarial services to public companies. Igor has a degree in International Business Law and a Postgraduate Certificate Diploma in Business Management at the University of Toronto. Igor is currently pursuing an LLM at Osgoode Hall Law School (York University) and serves as Corporate Secretary for multiple Grove clients.
Job Titles:
- MANAGER, CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS
A professional linguist by background with a degree in English and Spanish, Iryna Zheliasko has started her career as a communications specialist, writer and editor, moving on to the capital markets arena after completing her postgraduate certificate diplomas in Public and Government Relations. Before joining Grove, she spent several years working as IR and corporate communications manager for multiple public companies in diverse industries with operations in North America and beyond. Iryna oversees content creation and communications strategy for Grove and several of its clients as well as takes care of shareholder relations and investment industry outreach.
Job Titles:
- CLIENT COMMUNICATIONS & ADMIN
Jamie joins us with over 5 years of experience in the hospitality and administrative industry. Jamie holds an undergraduate degree in Media, Information and Technoculture as well as in Museum and Curatorial Studies from Western University. Her communication and people skills along with extensive strategic planning capabilities allow Jamie to support Grove's various departments with administrative needs.
Job Titles:
- DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS & CLIENT SUPPORT
Jessica Rutt has been with Grove for fifteen years handling financial, administrative, and investor relations functions. Based in the United Kingdom, Jessica manages relationships in the UK and Europe, as well as provides hands-on accounting management to Grove's clients. Jessica is a graduate of the University of Calgary, proficient in accounting (SAGE and QuickBooks), corporate affairs and communications.
Coming from the pre-pandemic industry of live, in-person events and conferences, Jonathan brings his 15+ years of production and management experience to Grove's proprietary AGM Connect platform. Jonathan has a degree in Creative Advertising from Humber College and specializes in online and digital media development and design. His experience in project management and his passion and excitement towards developing technology is providing Grove with a new way to conduct meetings for our clients.
Job Titles:
- MANAGER, ACCOUNTING SERVICES
Jordan Domey has worked within the finance function in executive and controller roles for over a decade; leading financial reporting, operations, capital raising, due diligence and shareholder exits. He started his career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), specializing in financial services, media, and technology across publicly-traded and private companies. Jordan has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen's University, majoring in Finance and Accounting.
Kirk Brouse has more than 25 years of investor relations and capital markets experience and has successfully cross-listed hundreds of Canadian public companies onto the OTC Markets trading platforms. Kirk intimately understands the various and often complex compliance issues effecting an efficient cross-listing and the needs of issuers to competently market their investment credentials with the confidence of having the best and most effective exposure to retail and institutional investors. Kirk joined Grove in 2021 as part of Grove's acquisition of OTC Advisory Services, founded in 2017. Kirk continues with Grove's foreign listing advisory practice and acts as an advisor to clients on all things OTC Markets.
Job Titles:
- MANAGER, CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Namrata has an extensive background in corporate governance management and regulatory compliance. Namrata most recently held the position of Assistant Vice-President, Corporate Secretarial and Compliance at a fintech start-up in India. A recent immigrant to Canada, Namrata is the Corporate Secretary of several Grove clients and is a substantial resource for compliance, regulatory and governance issues for the Grove team.
Job Titles:
- DIRECTOR, CAPITAL MARKETS
Nicholas Konkin has extensive business experience with over a decade of developing successful private and public resource and technology start-ups combined with a strong background in wealth management and investor relations spanning resources, technology and medical services sectors. Nicholas has a Bachelor of Commerce degree, majoring in Financial Planning. Prior to joining Grove as Vice President of Corporate Development, Nicholas was Director of Marketing and Communications at Carlisle Goldfields before it was sold to Alamos Gold at 117% premium to the market. Nicholas Konkin is currently a Director of Graycliff Exploration Ltd (CSE: GRAY).
Job Titles:
- CONTROLLER
- Chartered Accountant from India
Partha Vangal, a Chartered Accountant from India, worked for several years there before moving to Canada where he continued his career in accounting at EI DuPont Canada and Norcast Castings Company Ltd, managing their daily banking activities, accounts payable, and assisting internal audit efforts. In 2007, Partha joined Dundee Corporation where he worked as a portfolio and corporate accountant for more than a decade prior to joining Grove. At Dundee, he managed financial disclosures, monitored cash flow activities, and ensured compliance with the internal and international reporting standards. Partha assists with Grove's client accounting activities and is a financial controller for several public entities. Partha has completed Canadian Securities Course.
Job Titles:
- CFO
- CONTROLLER
- Accountant and Former Chief Financial Officer
Rebecca Hudson is an accomplished accountant and former Chief Financial Officer of several publicly traded resource companies. Rebecca brings to Grove a significant depth of knowledge in financial reporting, internal policies & controls, and IFRS compliance, as well as experience with cross-border, multi-geographical teams. Rebecca thrives working with, and leading, cross-functional accounting teams both within the resources sectors and with more entrepreneurial enterprises. Rebecca is also fluent in Spanish, adding to Grove's ability to fully serve our Latin American clients.
Job Titles:
- COO & DIRECTOR, ISSUER SERVICES
Sarah Morrison brings Grove her 20+ years of experience in the financial services industry. Throughout her career, Sarah has provided services to numerous publicly listed companies throughout multiple sectors and has been responsible for all aspects of public company administration, compliance reporting, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, as well as financings. Most recently Sarah acted as Managing Director of a securities transfer agency and business solutions firm in Toronto, Canada. Under Sarah's leadership, the business was transformed into a highly successful operation servicing several hundred public and private issues.
Stephen founded Grove in 2003 to specialize in incubation and development of entrepreneurial businesses in Canada and abroad. Through Grove, he has founded and served as Chairman or CEO of several public companies and currently serves as advisor to and/or director of both public and private small-cap companies in Canada. Stephen has spent over 20 years in the small-cap and natural resources sectors in Canada, the United States, United Kingdom and elsewhere. He specializes in financial structuring, business development, communications, and market finance, creating successful strategic relationships. Stephen is a graduate of Kings College at the Western University in London, Canada.