About Us

Chris Bakker has over two decades of experience in oil and gas, most recently working as a commercial negotiator with Encana/Ovintiv for major facilities and pipelines in the Montney gas play. His expertise includes all facets of Natural Gas Exploration such as land acquisition, exploration, drilling, well production and facility integration and construction. His educational background includes a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Economics and, later in his career, an MBA.

D. Brad Paterson has over 28 years’ experience acting as a senior officer of listed companies.  In these roles he has developed a thorough knowledge of management and financial accounting, corporate finance, cross-board transactions, corporate governance, and the regulatory markets.  He has led and consulted in the public listing of private companies and corporate re-structurings, business and asset valuations and acquisitions, and facilitated prospectus, brokered and non-brokered financings in excess of $76 million for private and public companies.  Additionally, he was a contract sessional instructor for the risk management and insurance courses of the Institute of Canadian Bankers.  Prior, he has worked as a senior analyst for a private equity and mezzanine-financing firm.

Mr. Paterson has earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and a Graduate Diploma in Management Accounting from the University of Alberta.  In addition, he has completed the Canadian Securities Course and has received the Chartered Professional Accountants and Certified Management Accountant designations.

Rob Gamley’s career spans over a decade in corporate finance and consulting, providing corporate strategy and communications services to public companies across a broad range of industries including biotech, oil and gas and natural resource exploration and development. He has been a board member of several TSXV-listed companies and brings extensive capital markets experience and a considerable network of both retail and institutional contacts. Gamley graduated in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science from the University of British Columbia.

Genga Nadaraju holds over two decades of diverse professional experience in the oil and gas industry that includes asset exploitation, strategic planning, investor relations, and technical innovation. Most recently, she was the lead technical advisor for the Montney gas field and has extensive experience in natural gas Geology, Geophysics & Reservoir Characterization. Ms. Nadaraju brings strong project management and organizational skills with the ability to interact effectively with all stakeholders within the organization, both internally and externally.

Cam Buss is a professional engineer with 28 years’ experience. Mr. Buss worked for Encana (now Ovintiv) for twenty-five years taking on roles up to Senior Manager in both upstream and midstream oil & gas. His broader experience includes O&G development, long range planning, infrastructure planning and design, production operations and completions engineering. He is driven by performance in meeting and exceeding targets and continually innovating. Mr. Buss attended the University of Alberta and received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering.

James Wood has over 30 years of experience as a geologist who specializes in reservoir characterization. His Geoscience and Petroleum Engineering research focus is on developing practical applications for enhanced evaluation and economic development of gas and liquid hydrocarbons in conventional and unconventional resource plays. Dr. Wood specializes in applied research in Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering; his research has received over 100 publications and been cited over 1,300 times.

Carter Chalmers is a senior business leader with over a decade of experience in business development and corporate development, including marketing communications and investor relations across a wide range of mediums from mining, technology and oil and gas data solutions. He is experienced in all aspects of digital marketing, communications, corporate development and investor relations for multiple start-ups and TSXV and CSE-listed companies. Prior to Avanti, Mr. Chalmers co-founded Terrelium resources as a pure-play helium company.

Richard Balonhas over 30 years of experience in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. He is a technically focused geophysicist with a proven track record working extensive analysis of 2D and 3D seismic data across some of the largest oil and gas fields in Canada. Mr. Balon holds a B.Sc. Geophysics from the University of Manitoba and is a member of APEGA (P.Geoph.), SEG, CSEG, CSPG.

Chad Lerner has over 23 years of experience in many aspects of energy exploration. He has extensive experience in commercial agreements, joint ventures, business development and land acquisition strategy. His experience has focused on junior and emerging energy companies having been involved in both private and public energy entities. Mr. Lerner is a graduate (1998) of the University of Calgary, holding a Bachelor of Commerce Degree with a major in Petroleum Land Management.

A professional geologist with over 15 years of diverse exploration, development, and operational experience across the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. Prior to joining Avanti Energy, he was previously with Penn West Exploration and Gain Energy. Mr. Morrissette received his Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Calgary and is a member in good standing of APEGA, CSPG and the CSEG.

Darrel Zacharias has 29 years of technical and managerial experience in the Canadian energy industry. His knowledge of many play types comes from having generated, evaluated and drilled hundreds of prospects in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin during his career. He also has 10 years of executive-level experience at publicly traded companies, including most recently as Vice President – Exploration at Chinook Energy Inc. Mr. Zacharias is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan (B.Sc. Geology, 1993) and is a member of APEGA (P.Geol.).

Chris Bakker has over two decades of experience in oil and gas, most recently working as a commercial negotiator with Encana/Ovintiv for major facilities and pipelines in the Montney gas play. His expertise includes all facets of Natural Gas Exploration such as land acquisition, exploration, drilling, well production and facility integration and construction. His educational background includes a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Economics and, later in his career, an MBA.

Genga Nadaraju holds over two decades of diverse professional experience in the oil and gas industry that includes asset exploitation, strategic planning, investor relations, and technical innovation. Most recently, she was the lead technical advisor for the Montney gas field and has extensive experience in natural gas Geology, Geophysics & Reservoir Characterization. Ms. Nadaraju brings strong project management and organizational skills with the ability to interact effectively with all stakeholders within the organization, both internally and externally.

Rob Gamley’s career spans over a decade in corporate finance and consulting, providing corporate strategy and communications services to public companies across a broad range of industries including biotech, oil and gas and natural resource exploration and development. He has been a board member of several TSXV-listed companies and brings extensive capital markets experience and a considerable network of both retail and institutional contacts. Gamley graduated in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science from the University of British Columbia.

Mr. Bronson is a professional geologist with 30 years of exploration and development experience in the oil and gas industry. Mr. Bronson manages his own consulting business, Rae-co Consulting Ltd., which involves prospect generation and consultation to the industry. His most recent role from 2018 to 2020 was as consulting geologist for Acquisition Oil Corp., working on the development of its Cranberry/Priestville light oil field in northeastern Alberta. From 2016 to 2018, Mr. Bronson worked with Vermilion Energy Inc. as consulting geologist on the development of the Ellerslie gas liquids trend in west-central Alberta. Prior to working with Vermilion, Mr. Bronson consulted with Pengrowth Energy Corp. from 2011 to 2016 on the development of its Swan Hills light oil trend in north-central Alberta. Previous to 2011, Mr. Bronson consulted with Ovintiv (formerly Encana) on the exploration and development of the Montney gas play in northeastern British Columbia. Mr. Bronson graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Alberta in 1984 and is registered with APEGBC.

Mr. Leo graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor of Human Kinetics and a Master of Human Kinetics in 2003 from the University of British Columbia. Mr. Leo qualified as a mortgage broker in 2013 and has been in corporate sales for over 13 years. Mr. Leo has been a director of a number of public companies since 2017, including Savanna Capital Corp. (TSX-V).