Gary S. Guidry – President and Chief Executive Officer
Gary Guidry has more than 40 years of experience developing and maximizing assets in the international oil and gas industry. Mr. Guidry has direct experience managing large, international projects, including assets in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Most recently Mr. Guidry was the President and CEO of Caracal Energy, a London Stock Exchange listed Company with operations in Chad, Africa. He held that position from mid-2011 until the Company was acquired by Glencore plc for $1.8 billion in mid-2014. In 2014, He was awarded the Oil Council Executive of the Year award for his leadership role with Caracal. Prior to Caracal, Mr. Guidry was the President and CEO of Orion Oil and Gas (TSX listed), which operated in western Canada from mid-2009 until mid-2011 when it was sold. From May 2005 until December 2008, he was the President and CEO of Tanganyika Oil Company (TSX listed) which operated in Syria and Egypt. Prior to Tanganyika, Mr. Guidry was CEO of Calpine Natural Gas Trust. He is an Alberta-registered Professional Engineer and a member of APEGA. He received a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1980.
Ryan Ellson – Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Finance
Ryan Ellson has over 22 years of experience in a broad range of international corporate finance and accounting roles. Most recently, he was Head of Finance for Glencore E&P (Canada) Inc. and prior thereto Vice President, Finance at Caracal Energy Inc., a London Stock Exchange listed company with operations in Chad, Africa. Glencore E&P (Canada) purchased Caracal in July 2014. Prior to Caracal, Mr. Ellson held several management and executive positions with companies operating in Egypt, India and Canada. He has overseen the financial and accounting functions, implemented and oversaw internal financial controls, secured reserve-based lending facility's and has been involved in multiple capital raises and acquisitions. Mr. Ellson is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Professional Accounting from the University of Saskatchewan. He has completed the Leadership for Senior Executives program at Harvard Business School and several executive education programs at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Ellson is currently a Director of PetroTal Corp. and Canary Biofuels Inc.
Sebastien Morin – Chief Operating Officer
Sebastien Morin has more than 20 years of experience in the oil and gas industry in various management positions. Prior to his appointment as Chief Operating Officer of the Company, Mr. Morin served as President and Chief Operating Officer at WesternZagros Resources, a privately-owned petroleum operating company with production sharing contracts in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, from 2021 to 2023. Prior to his role at WesternZagros, Mr. Morin was Vice President Global Drilling and Completions at Gran Tierra, leading up to that he held progressively more senior positions at Gran Tierra in Colombia and in the Corporate Office in Calgary from 2014 to 2020. From 2001 to 2014 Mr. Morin worked at Imperial Oil (Esso) and ExxonMobil, where he achieved more senior technical and managerial positions in upstream and downstream including roles in drilling and completions, reservoir development, production, customer service and distribution, mostly onshore but also with experience offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Morin has a Bachelor of Science degree in Geological Engineering from the University of Waterloo in 2001.
Phillip Abraham – Vice President, Legal and Business Development
Phillip Abraham is a lawyer with over 27 years of corporate and legal experience. His legal experience includes positions at prominent law firms and in corporate legal environments and is broadly based with a focus on international energy law. Mr. Abraham’s corporate experience extends to a variety of leadership positions with Cenovus Energy, Encana Corporation and Nexen Inc. His experience in oil and gas includes onshore and offshore projects located in Canada and various international jurisdictions in Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Mr. Abraham is a member of Law Society of Alberta, holds both a B.A. and an LL.M. from the University of Calgary and a LL.B. from the University of Victoria, and was first called to the bar in British Columbia in 1997. He is credited as the author of various publications and has presented in numerous professional forums.
Jim Evans – Vice President, Corporate Services
Jim Evans has over 28 years of experience including working the last 16 years in the international oil and gas industry. Most recently Mr. Evans was the Head of Compliance & Corporate Services for Glencore E&P (Canada) and prior thereto Vice President of Compliance & Corporate Services at Caracal Energy where he oversaw the execution of corporate strategy and goals, developed and implemented a robust corporate compliance program, and managed all aspects of IT, document control, security and administration. Mr. Evans also managed the recruitment, training and retention of staff in both Calgary and Chad. He oversaw the growth of the Company from seven employees to in excess of 400 as Caracal Energy exceeded 20,000 barrels of oil per day at the time of sale to Glencore. Prior to Caracal, Mr. Evans held senior management and executive positions at Orion Oil and Gas and Tanganyika Oil, with operating experience in Egypt, Syria and Canada. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Calgary.
Diego Perez-Claramunt – Vice President, Health Safety and Environment (HSE) & Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Diego Perez-Claramunt has over 24 years of experience in the international oil and gas industry and has held numerous senior executive positions within the area of Health, Safety, Environment and Social Performance. In previous roles at Shell, he worked in the Middle East, North Africa and Africa, overseeing Social and Environmental activities and implementing numerous community development programs in these regions. Most recently, he has successfully led Gran Tierra’s HSE, CSR and Licensing teams as the Director, undertaking respectful community engagement and establishing lasting stakeholder relationships. Mr. Perez-Claramunt holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, Marketing and Related Support Services from the Instituto de Ciencias del Mercado, and he completed MIT’s Executive Program for General Management.
Rodger Trimble – Vice President, Investor Relations
Rodger Trimble is a Professional Engineer with over 38 years of experience in domestic and international basins in various management positions. Prior to joining Gran Tierra, Mr. Trimble was Head of Corporate Planning, Budgeting & Finance with Glencore E&P Canada Inc. and prior thereto Director Corporate Planning, Budget & Business Development with Caracal Energy Inc. (acquired by Glencore E&P). He has held several senior management positions ranging from Country Manager in Argentina with Canadian Hunter Exploration, Vice President, Exploitation with Esprit Energy Trust, Manager, Reservoir Engineering with Apache Canada Inc. and Manager, Upstream Evaluations – Frontiers & International with Husky Energy. Mr. Trimble is an Alberta-registered Professional Engineer and a member of APEGA. He received a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering (with Distinction) from Stanford University.
Lawrence West – Vice President, Exploration
Lawrence West has 43 years of experience as an executive, explorationist, and geologist. Most recently, Mr. West was Vice President, Exploration at Caracal Energy. He built a multi-disciplinary team to assess resources and grow reserves in the interior rift basins within Chad and led a successful exploration program. During his tenure he successfully executed two large 2D/3D seismic shoots in remote frontier basins, on time and on budget. Prior to Caracal he was involved with starting and growing several public and private companies, including Reserve Royalty Corp., Chariot Energy, Auriga Energy and Orion Oil and Gas. Mr. West worked at Alberta Energy Company (AEC), where he was on the team that merged with Conwest. He built and led the AEC East team to the Rocky Mountain USA basins. His career began with Imperial Oil working on prospect and reservoir characterization, in multi-disciplinary teams, and as a technical mentor to exploration teams. Mr. West has an Honours Bachelor of Science in Geology from McMaster University and an MBA, specializing in economics from the University of Calgary.
Rob Will – Vice President, Asset Management
Rob Will has over 36 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, most recently as the Chief Operating Officer at Trident Exploration Corp and Cona Resources LTD. He has extensive technical experience in reservoir management, production and operations throughout his career and has had exposure to a broad spectrum of hydrocarbon and geologic-play types. Recently at Cona Resources LTD (formerly Northern Blizzard Resources Inc.) he led the identification, design, and construction stages of Northern Blizzard’s thermal SAGD project and played a key role in Northern Blizzard’s successful initial public offering (IPO) during his tenure as V.P. of Business Development. Throughout his career, Mr. Will has demonstrated strong leadership, mentorship and resulting value creation. He has a Bachelor of Geological Engineering degree, graduating with Great Distinction, and a Master of Chemical Engineering degree (petroleum).
Country Management
Manuel Buitrago – President and Country Manager, Colombia
Manuel Buitrago has over 20 years of experience in a broad range of international corporate finance, management and business development roles working for publicly listed companies. Most recently, Mr. Buitrago was the President and Country Manager for Gran Tierra Energy Mexico and prior to that he was the Senior Finance Manager for Gran Tierra Energy in Colombia. He was responsible for all finance functions and supported new business opportunities and post M&A integration. Previously he was the CFO of PetroTiger from 2010 to 2014. He has held positions of increasing responsibility with British Petroleum in the UK and Europe, Occidental Petroleum in Colombia and MPX and OGX entities in Colombia and Brazil. Mr. Buitrago has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, with a major in International Business from Schiller International University and holds a Post Graduate Degree in International Accounting from Javeriana University in Colombia. Mr. Buitrago received his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Temple University. He has also furthered executive education studies in oil and gas, management, finance and M&A at the University of Chicago, Thunderbird University, University of Texas at Austin, and Northwestern University.
Enrique Villalobos – President and Country Manager, Ecuador
Enrique Villalobos has 25 years of international experience in Oil and Gas E&P in North Africa, Europe and Latin America. Prior to joining Gran Tierra Energy in 2014, Mr. Villalobos worked at Repsol and ExxonMobil in several positions. His experience in these positions ranged from light oil and gas large field development planning in Libya, to business development in Europe, Asia and Africa. In these former roles he also led the operations for the exploration of unconventionals in Morocco and Colombia, managed large technical teams responsible for cost effective full field development and operations of light to heavy remote oilfields onshore Colombia and Venezuela. Mr. Villalobos has also been a post-graduate university professor at the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia teaching production engineering. He has an Oil and Gas MBA from the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen Scotland, UK, where he graduated with Merit as well as a degree in Petroleum Engineering from Universidad de America in Bogota, Colombia.