corporate-profile

Board of Directors

Primary Energy Recycling is governed by a seven-member board of directors. Five of the directors, including the chair, are independent.

A. Michel Lavigne , Chair of the Board of Directors

Mr. Lavigne is a director of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Canada Post Corporation, TVA Group Inc. and Quebecor Media. Until May 2005, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton in Montreal, Quebec, Chairman of the Board of Grant Thornton Canada and was a member of the Board of Governors of Grant Thornton International. Mr. Lavigne is a fellow of the Order of Chartered Accountants of Quebec and a member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. He received his Certification in Science Administratives from the Ecole des Hautes Études Commerciales in Montreal, Quebec in 1972.

Rodney Boulanger , Director

Mr. Boulanger first joined the board in 2008. Mr. Boulanger has 17 years of experience as a CEO and another 24 years of experience in executive management. Mr. Boulanger was previously the President and CEO of Midland Cogeneration Venture, which is the only conversion of an abandoned nuclear plant to a natural gas fired combined cycle cogeneration plant. Formerly, Mr. Boulanger was the CEO of the ANG Coal Gasification Company, operator of the Great Plains Coal Gasification project, a project which produces high Btu substitute natural gas from lignite coal, and CMS Generation, which builds and operates electric power plants around the world. Mr. Boulanger holds a B.S. in Accounting from Ferris University and an MBA from the University of Detroit.

Christopher H. Pickwoad , Director

Mr. Pickwoad has served on the board since the Company’s inception in 2005. Until his retirement in 2007, Mr. Pickwoad held the position of Executive Vice President, CFO and Director of Novamerican Steel Inc. He has 25 years of experience in the steel industry and was employed by Novamerican Steel from 1982 to 2007 when the company was sold. Prior to 1982 he was a partner of a firm of Chartered Accountants having obtained the designation of CA in 1963.

Don Pether , Director

From 2003 to 2006, Mr. Pether served as President and CEO of steel manufacturer Dofasco prio to the company's acquisition by ArcelorMittal. He was appointed Chair of Dofasco in 2006, before retiring in 2007 after 37 years with the company. Mr. Pether has held leadership positions with several steel industry-related associations, including past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, and past Vice-Chair of the American Iron and Steel Institute. He currently is Chair of the Board of McMaster University and sits on the Board of Directors of packaging and metal processing company Samuel, San and Co., Ltd and Emera Inc., an energy services, infrastructure and utility company. Mr. Pether holds a Bachelor of Science in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Alberta and a Honourary Doctorate of Laws from McMaster University.

Lorie Waisberg , Director

Mr. Waisberg joined Primary Energy Recycling Corporation as a Director on March 13, 2008 and was appointed to the board of managers on March 20, 2008. Mr. Waisberg practiced as a corporate lawyer in Toronto, Ontario for thirty years until August, 2000. Mr. Waisberg served as Executive Vice President, Finance and Administration and a director of Co-Steel Inc., a steel producer, from August, 2000 until October, 2002 when Co-Steel Inc. was acquired by Gerdau SA. Mr. Waisberg is Chair of the Board of Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund and a director of Norant Resources Ltd., Metalex Ventures Ltd. where he is Chair of the Audit Committee, Chantrell Venture Corp. and Tembec Inc. Mr. Waisberg received a B.A. and M.A. in History and an LL.B. from the University of Toronto, and an LL.M. from Harvard.

John D. Prunkl , Director

Mr. Prunkl is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Primary Energy and is a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Prunkl’s experience includes leading EnerTech Environmental as its President and Chief Operating Officer during the commissioning of the world’s first SlurryCarb renewable fuel facility in Rialto, California. Mr. Prunkl held the position of President of Primary Energy and President of EPCOR USA, serving as manager of Primary Energy from 2006 to 2008. From 2001 to 2006 he held the position of Executive Vice President of Operations when Primary Energy and its predecessor Private Power experienced significant growth from a series of successful acquisitions.

Earlier in his career Mr. Prunkl co-founded MetroGen LLC, an energy start up company that was instrumental in the aggregation of standby generators in New York City that prevented brownouts and blackouts. In 1996 Mr. Prunkl joined Illinova Generating Company (now part of Dynegy) as Vice President of Operations where he managed a global portfolio of diverse power generating assets from wind to coal. During this same time period he also served as President of Illinova Resource Recovery, a subsidiary specializing in the generation of electric power from industrial waste byproducts. John Prunkl began his career at GE Power Systems holding a variety of management positions including leading the technical and commercial sale of gas turbines, steam turbines and turnkey power plants primarily in the Asian market.

John holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Auburn University, and a Bachelors of Arts degree in Mathematics from Huntingdon College.

Douglas Graham , Director

Mr. Graham was appointed to the Board of Directors on August 24, 2010. Mr. Graham is currently a Portfolio Manager for KVO Capital Management, a New Hampshire-based hedge fund that holds substantial shares of the Company. Prior to that, Mr. Graham held the position of Portfolio Manager with Onex Capital Management in New York, which invested in small to mid-cap companies in the U.S. and in Canada. At both firms, Mr. Graham built close working relationships with the executives of the companies in which his fund invested. Mr. Graham’s extensive background in the investment business also includes five years in the private equity division of Goldman, Sachs & Co.

In the past, he has sat on the Board of Directors of Berry Plastics Corporation, a leading specialty plastics packaging company, and of Adam Aircraft Industries, a venture-backed aircraft development company. He graduated, with distinction, from the University of North Carolina with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, finance concentration.

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