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Our Team

Our team is comprised of distinguished professionals representing a broad spectrum of expertise. We have esteemed specialists in Materials Science, Batteries, Finance, Capital Growth, Manufacturing, Chemistry, Engineering, Public Affairs and Intellectual Property.

Executive Team

Dan Blondal

CEO, Director & Founder

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Dr. Stephen Campbell

Chief Technology Officer, PhD, CSci, CChem, MRSC

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Kelli Forster

Senior Vice President, People and Culture

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Denis Geoffroy

Chief Commercialization Officer

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Alex Holmes

Chief Operating Officer

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Adam Johnson

Senior Vice President, External Affairs

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Leanne Likness Swanson

Corporate Secretary

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Carlo Valente

Chief Financial Officer

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Leadership Team

Russell Barton

Principal Engineer

Russell Barton

Principal Engineer

Russell has 40+ years of experience in mechanical and electrochemical systems including eighteen years designing parts and systems for fuel cell products. He was instrumental in designing Ballard Power System’s first commercial product, NEXA, taking components of the design from concept to manufactured product. He has worked with Energizer, Poly Fuel, Ballard and Neptune Dynamics and brings a wealth of knowledge to Nano One in energy storage, chemistry and mechanical systems. Russell is known for his innovative solutions and is credited with 40 patents in the US and foreign jurisdictions.

Ian Bernier

Director, Capital Projects

Ian Bernier

Director, Capital Projects

Ian has 10+ years’ of experience in the Cathode Active Materials (CAM) industry, working in commercial operations for LFP manufacturing and large-scale capital projects for other chemistries. Ian joined Nano One in early 2022 and leads the Capital Project portfolio for the commercialization of various patented CAM chemistries. Ian is building a project team and structure to deliver multiple production plants to support Nano One’s growth. Previously, Ian was the Engineering and Maintenance Director at an LFP start-up in Quebec which became part of a global CAM manufacturing company. Ian obtained his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Université de Sherbrooke.

Sébastien Dakin

Director, Stakeholder Engagement

Sébastien Dakin

Director, Stakeholder Engagement

Sébastien Dakin is a multilingual government relations, communications, and business development professional with over 20 years of international experience. He has held various positions from a journalist at the largest TV network in Québec, to managing communications at an intergovernmental organization in Moscow (for the Canadian Government). He managed a chamber of commerce for Canadian companies active in Eurasian countries, where he advocated for market access and identified business opportunities for members. Prior to joining Nano One, he was Director of Business Development at Montréal’s economic development agency, supporting hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign direct investments in sectors such as manufacturing, agrifood, and technology.

Jasmin Dufour

Director, Pilot Plant

Jasmin Dufour

Director, Pilot Plant

Jasmin has been actively developing Battery cathode material for 15 years +, leading scale-up efforts and manufacturing of different LiFePO4 chemistries. Jasmin started as a research assistant at Phostech Lithium (now Nano One) in 2007, helping the development of the first generation LiFePO4-C. He gained expertise in cathode material synthesis, deep knowledge in the production process and quality control of such material. Since 2019, he has been managing the Manufacturing effort of 25 people at Candiac, leading operators, lab technicians and warehouse technicians to produce high-quality LiFePO4-C at an industrial scale for the automotive market. At Nano-One, the same team, now including Maintenance, is leading the piloting efforts at the Candiac Plant having the goal of commercializing Nano One’s One-Pot cathode materials. Jasmin holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Sherbrooke University and a master’s degree in Material Sciences from Trois-Rivières University.

Dan Martino

Vice President, Finance

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Andrea Goodman

Director, Projects & Funding

Andrea Goodman

Director, Projects & Funding

Andrea has an engineering background, with over a decade of experience in the clean technology sector, most recently managing funding and investment portfolios focused on advancing Canada’s transition to net zero. She spent the beginning of her career working in environmental compliance and process engineering roles. Prior to joining Nano One, she held various roles at Sustainable Development Technology Canada, including Project Manager, Investment Lead, and Director of Business Transformation, managing portfolios of over $60 million. Andrea joined Nano One in 2023 to support business analysis and strategic corporate development, specifically managing market research and analysis activities, as well as government, strategic and project finance initiatives. Andrea holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from the Universities of Manitoba and Ottawa, respectively. She resides in Chelsea, QC, with her husband and two young kids. In her free time, she enjoys cross-country skiing, hiking, and yoga.

Paul Guedes

Director, Capital Markets

Paul Guedes

Director, Capital Markets

Mr. Guedes has 20+ years of experience as an entrepreneur, fund manager, and senior executive with several public companies. He was President of a family-owned construction company for over 10 years before moving to the public markets. Mr. Guedes’s key focus over the last 14+ years has been centred around renewable energy and climate change in industries like wind energy, wave energy, biofuels, hydrogen, and carbon credits. Mr. Guedes received his Bachelor of Commerce from the Michael DeGroot School of Business at McMaster University.

Dr. Lida Hadidi

Director, Research & Development, PhD, MSc

Dr. Lida Hadidi

Director, Research & Development, PhD, MSc

Dr. Hadidi has 10+ years of experience in materials science and in-depth expertise in nanomaterials and applications. Dr. Hadidi has 12 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact scientific journals as 1st and co-author. Dr. Hadidi has contributed to 4 patents in the field of energy storage, including Nano One’s One-Pot LFP material. Dr. Hadidi is currently R&D Director at Nano One, overseeing internal and external R&D projects and leading a growing scientific team of 30 people. She and the team at the Burnaby Innovation Centre help foster innovation for anticipated market needs.

Before joining Nano One, Dr. Hadidi was a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Montreal, working on low-cost LFP cathode active materials. Before that, she worked as a research scientist in an Edmonton-based start-up in silicon and silica-based nanomaterials for display, lighting, security, and energy applications. Dr. Hadidi received her Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Alberta in 2016 and completed her MSc. in Nanochemistry at the University of Tehran in 2010.

Pamela Kinsman

Director, Sustainability and Corporate Affairs

Pamela Kinsman

Director, Sustainability and Corporate Affairs

Pamela Kinsman is a member of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council.

Pam has over a decade of mining and public company experience with a focus on corporate governance and shareholder services. Previously, the Corporate Secretary at Plateau Energy Metals from November 2019 until its acquisition in May 2021, and Corporate Secretary and Office Manager of Equinox Gold from August 2016 to November 2018 as the company grew from a single-asset developer to a multi-asset producer. She has assisted with overseeing the implementation of corporate governance, managed shareholder services, private placements, and filings; through the acquisition at Plateau, a share consolidation, two mergers, a spinout and an asset acquisition at Equinox Gold. Prior to joining Equinox Gold, Pamela was Assistant Corporate Secretary and Executive Assistant at Nevsun Resources Ltd. from October 2009 until March 2016, providing support to the Investor Relations program and managing their regulatory filings on both the TSX and NYSE American exchanges.

Simon Lalancette

Director, Strategic Supply Chain

Simon Lalancette

Director, Strategic Supply Chain

Simon has 19+ years of experience in cathode active materials and has been a pillar in the LFP manufacturing in the Candiac operating plant. He has held several key positions throughout the time such as maintenance, continuous improvement, quality insurance, customer relationship, transport, logistics, procurement, and S&OP. Simon graduated in mechanical engineering in 2005 and recently graduated in business management from HEC Montreal. Simon is a team player and strives for excellence. In his free time, he enjoys ice hockey, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, tennis, and hiking.

O’Rian Reid

Director, Scale-Up, MSc

O’Rian Reid

Director, Scale-Up, MSc

O’Rian joined Nano One in 2017 and has recently taken over the role of leading the scale-up efforts as the Scale-up Manager. O’Rian started as a research scientist working on the development of Nano One’s One-Pot® LNMO material and eventually led a team of scientists to initiate the scale-up of this material.

Prior to Nano One, O’Rian was a Scientist at a materials testing lab where he was the lead Scientist for electron microscope analysis and worked closely with other scientists to determine root causes for industries including pharmaceutical, automotive, aerospace, and medical devices using a variety of physical characterization techniques.

O’Rian holds a Master’s degree in Material Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry both from Ontario Tech University in Ontario.

Brigitte Ruel

Director, People & Culture, CRHA

Brigitte Ruel

Director, People & Culture, CRHA

Brigitte has over 20 years of experience in Human Resources (HR). She has worked for small, medium and large companies in the manufacturing, construction and pharmaceutical industries. Her roles encompassed organizational development with a focus on Talent Management and Development, Succession Planning, Strategic planning, Communication and Coaching.

Throughout her career, she always focused on the team’s well-being, continuous improvement, efficiency and change management. Her roles varied from implementing an HR Service to managing all aspects of HR.

Brigitte graduated with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration – Human Resources Management from UQAM, has succeeded in the Intensive Organizational Development program from HEC, is a Chartered Professional in Human Resources (CPHR), specifically CRHA in Quebec and holds a Lean Six Sigma green belt from Mouvement Québécois de la Qualité.

Robin Sweeny

Director, Programs & NPI

Robin Sweeny

Director, Programs & NPI

Robin is a Professional Engineer with over 30 years of business-to-business marketing and product management experience in the telecommunications, information technology, and material sectors. He has defined, launched, and managed the life cycle for several successful products, has prospected and qualified market opportunities, executed marketing campaigns, and has been an integral part of all aspects of system sales cycles.

Pierre Thibodeau

Sr. Key Account Manager

Pierre Thibodeau

Sr. Key Account Manager

Pierre has 13+ years of experience in the battery materials industry. Before joining Nano One, Pierre held the position of Customer Service Specialist at Johnson Matthey Battery Materials, overlooking a wide range of customers supplying to markets: Automotive, Mobility, Electronics, ESS, Health, and Military. Dedicated and respectful, Pierre has solid experience implementing sales & distribution processes, applying automotive standards and industry best practices to support customers’ multi-million growth. Pierre has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from HEC University, Montreal.

Wei Weng

Director of Finance

Wei Weng

Director of Finance

Wei has 10+ years of experience in Finance and accounting with both private and public companies in the telecommunications, engineering, mining, and energy industries. Most recently, he was the Group Controller for Smardt in Dorval, Québec. Wei has also worked abroad in both France and China. Wei received a Master’s degree in accounting at the Université du Québec à Montréal and he is also a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA). Wei lives in Candiac, Québec with his wife and 2 daughters. When he’s not busy driving them to skating and piano lessons, he enjoys hiking, camping, jogging and a good cup of coffee.


Board of Directors

Dan Blondal

CEO, Director & Founder

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Lyle Brown

Director and Audit Committee Chair

Lyle Brown

Director and Audit Committee Chair

Lyle is a CPA, CA and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia. He has been a partner since 1991 in the accounting firm of Culver & Co. in Vancouver, British Columbia, serving clients in a wide range of industries, and is familiar with the reporting requirements of public companies. Lyle has served on numerous boards of directors for both private and public companies.

Dr. Joseph Guy

Director

Dr. Joseph Guy

Director

Dr. Joseph Guy is the President of Patent Filing Specialist, Inc. and a Patent Agent focusing on complex technologies including material science, electronic components, pharmaceuticals and medical products. He has more than 23 years of experience prosecuting patents and serving as an expert witness on intellectual property matters. Dr. Guy was awarded a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in physical inorganic chemistry with a focus on organometallic complexes. Dr. Guy has authored numerous references in peer-reviewed journals and has written and prosecuted over 1000 U.S. and foreign patent applications, with more than 300 issued U.S. Patents and numerous foreign patents.

Gord Kukec

Independent Lead Director

Gord Kukec

Independent Lead Director

Gord is a former senior executive with decades of experience in overseeing large multi-disciplinary teams in senior officer roles with various public and private Canadian corporations. Throughout his tenure, he was primarily responsible for overseeing the planning, investing and implementation of innovation in corporate, commercial and supporting information technology strategy.

Since 2010, Gord has been an independent advisor and board member focused on how emerging environmental and information technology developments, such as climate change and cybersecurity, impact business transformation, corporate strategy and board governance. Recently, Gord completed his term as Board Director at BC Ferries Corporation as well as Board Chair and President of BC Sustainable Energy Association.

Gord currently sits on the board of Intelligent City, Solshare Energy and Jericho Tennis Club. Mr. Kukec received his BA in economics from the University of Calgary and his MBA from Queen’s University. Gord is certified in Cybersecurity and Governance of Enterprise Information Technology (CGEIT) from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), Sustainable Energy Management from BCIT and is a holder of the Institute of Corporate Directors’ ICD.D designation.

Carla Matheson

Director and Chair of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee

Carla Matheson

Director and Chair of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee

Carla is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) with over 10 years of experience in a variety of public and private industries, specializing in business development, mergers and acquisitions and financial reporting. She is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Plank Ventures Ltd., an investment company targeting investments and business opportunities in the technology arena, with a focus on early-stage start-up companies that have developed a customer and revenue base and are seeking funding for expansion. Most recently, she was Chief Financial Officer of Tiny Capital, where she was responsible for the strategic oversight of the technology-heavy portfolio. This oversight included onboarding new acquisitions, and the development of core financial and operational processes as the primary point of contact for portfolio CEOs experiencing periods of high growth. Throughout her career, Carla has been on both buy and sell sides, having closed 30+ majority acquisitions and 50+ minority/venture-type transactions, raised over $150M in capital via both debt and equity markets and deployed over $60M in capital.

Paul Matysek

Chair and Director, MSc

Paul Matysek

Chair and Director, MSc

Serial entrepreneur, geochemist and geologist with over 40 years of experience in the mining industry. Since 2004 as CEO or Chair, Paul has primarily focused on the exploration, development and sale of five publicly listed companies, in aggregate worth over $2 billion. Most recently, he was Executive Chairman of Lithium X Energy Corp. which was sold to Nextview New Energy Lion Hong Kong Limited (“Nextview”) for $265 million in cash. He was awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year for Mining & Resources in September 2018.

Lisa Skakun

Director and Chair of the Nominations and Governance Committee

Lisa Skakun

Director and Chair of the Nominations and Governance Committee

Lisa Skakun is a lawyer and executive with over 20 years of experience in a variety of private and public industries. Currently the Chief Legal, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Officer of Coast Capital Savings Federal Credit Union, Lisa is responsible for all legal, mergers and acquisitions, public affairs, compliance, financial crimes risk management and corporate governance functions. Lisa has her LLB from the University of British Columbia, a Master of Laws degree in business law from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, and also holds her ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. Lisa is the recipient of the Lexpert Zenith Award: Celebrating Women in Law, the Association of Women in Finance’s PEAK award for Rising Star, and the National Post Award for Tomorrow’s Leader at the Western Canada General Counsel Awards and has been named to Canada’s Diversity 50 list by the Canadian Board Diversity Council. Previously, Lisa was the Board Chair of Kwantlen Polytechnic University, a past board member of the Cause We Care Foundation, a previous Chair of the BC Business Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association, and was also a member of the Securities Law Advisory Committee for the British Columbia Securities Commission.


Advisory Committee

Honorable Frank R. Fannon

Strategic Advisor

Honorable Frank R. Fannon

Strategic Advisor

Frank is currently the managing director of Fannon Global Advisors, a strategic advisory focused on geopolitics, the energy transition, and market transformation. He is also a non-resident senior advisor at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, and a visiting senior fellow at the Center for Technology Diplomacy at Purdue.

Prior to his time at the State Department, Frank established BHP’s U.S. Corporate Affairs function as a Managing Direction and served as Chief U.S. Advisor to the BHP Foundation, focused on transparency and governance, environmental resilience, and education equity. Prior to BHP, Frank led government affairs for Murphy Oil Corporation where he facilitated new country entry in multiple regions and developed the industry’s first point-of-purchase consumer energy campaign. Previously, he served as counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, where he drafted, negotiated and helped pass key legislation. Frank also served as counsel to Senators Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO) and Pete V. Domenici (R-NM).

Frank holds a J.D. from the University of Denver College of Law, an M.A. in International Affairs, Economics & Trade from the University of Denver Korbel School of International Studies, and a B.A. from Radford University.

Dr. Yuan Gao

Strategic Advisor

Dr. Yuan Gao

Strategic Advisor

Dr. Yuan Gao is an accomplished executive with a successful track record leading businesses throughout the lithium-ion battery supply chain. He is also a globally recognized innovator and expert in lithium-ion battery cathode materials, including LFP, NMC, LCO and LMO with 100+ patents, dozens of publications, and innovations at the core of today’s lithium-ion batteries. He is the Vice-Chair of the board of Pulead Technology, a respected producer of cathodes for lithium-ion batteries, having served as President and CEO from May 2014 to September 2019. In addition, Dr. Gao also serves as a member of the board of directors for Lithium Americas Corp. Previously, Dr. Gao served as Vice President at Molycorp Inc., and as Global Marketing Director and Technology Manager at FMC Corporation (USA). He completed a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of British Columbia and did post-doctoral research on lithium metal oxides at Simon Fraser University in Professor Jeff Dahn’s laboratory. He has also completed an executive education program at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Byron Gates

Strategic Advisor

Dr. Byron Gates

Strategic Advisor

Dr. Byron Gates collaboratively assists the company in determining correlations between the structure, function, and properties of new lithium-ion battery materials. Dr. Gates is a Tier II Canada Research Chair in the Department of Chemistry at Simon Fraser University, investigating the surface and interface chemistry of nanomaterials and is the Head of the Centre for Soft Materials in 4D LABS, a materials research institute at SFU. Dr. Gates’ work includes a series of analytical and materials studies to prepare and analyze the surface chemistries of nanostructured materials. Dr.Gates received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Washington working with Professor Younan Xia and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University working with Professor George M. Whitesides.

Joe Lowry

Strategic Advisor

Joe Lowry

Strategic Advisor

Joe Lowry has 20 years of experience in senior roles with leading lithium producers and an extensive network in the global cathode supply chain network. Joe has worked for top lithium producers in the US, Japan and China, and has extensive worldwide market experience, a large contact base and a good pulse on the lithium market. He is widely respected and known as one of the world’s experts in the lithium sector. After a two-decade tenure working in senior positions in leading international lithium companies, Joe formed Global Lithium LLC as an advisory firm in 2012. Global Lithium LLC has been successfully supporting lithium producers, users, investors, hedge funds and governments.

Robert Morris

Strategic Advisor

Robert Morris

Strategic Advisor

Robert is the Managing Director of Morris Consulting Corporation, a consultancy and advisory firm providing services to the base metals industry. Founded in 2019, the company’s clients include top-tier mining and trading companies. Robert has over 15 years of experience as a senior executive in the mining industry, most recently with Vale, where he was Executive Vice-President, Sales and Marketing, at Base Metals. Robert was instrumental in developing Vale’s strategic direction relating to the company’s electric vehicle strategy. Specifically, how to position Vale’s vast nickel and cobalt assets towards the production of essential battery materials. While based in Tokyo, he was president of Vale’s Japanese subsidiary Vale Japan Ltd., managing the company’s nickel production assets and leading the sales and business development activities covering nickel and cobalt specialty products. Prior to Vale, Robert was Managing Director at Umicore Greater China responsible for marketing Umicore’s line of cathode battery materials to the China market. Robert is also a non-executive Director at Giga Metals Corporation, a mining company, developing one of the world’s largest undeveloped nickel and cobalt sulphide deposits that is geared toward supplying the future demand for battery metals to fuel the growing electric vehicle industry.


OUR HISTORY

We’re changing how the world makes battery materials

Since 2002, we have been developing a new generation of Cathode Active Materials (CAM) that reduce cost and complexity while improving environmental footprint and supply chain resilience.