Board of Directors
Meet the Board
Richard Crookes
Non-Executive Director
Richard Crookes
Non-Executive Director
Richard has over 35 years’ experience across a diverse range of projects, geographies and commodities in the resources and investment industries, and as such has a unique blend of resources industry experience as both an operator and investor.
Richard is founder and managing partner of Lionhead Resources and chair of the Investment Committee. He is presently a company director with 3 ASX-listed companies, including Chairman of Black Rock Mining (Graphite), interim Chair of Vital Metals Ltd (Rare Earths) and NED of Lithium Power International Ltd (Lithium).
Mr Crookes holds a BSc in Geology and a Grad Dip in Applied Finance and is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia (FINSIA) and a member of AICD.
Lisa Riley
Non-Executive Director
Lisa Riley
Non-Executive Director
Lisa has nearly 30 years of experience in global capital markets, finance, mining advisory and government relations. She also has extensive experience stakeholder relations and incorporating an ESG focus in real and measurable ways.
Lisa is presently a company director of two TSX-listed companies; Star Diamond Corp and GFG Resources and is a board member of ASX-listed company Vital Metals.
Lisa previously held the positions of Vice-President and Director of Equity Sales at TD Securities in London, UK; Vice-President, Equity Sales at RBC Capital Markets, London, UK; Vice-President, Equity Research at Lehman Brothers, New York. Lisa is fluent in three languages and is based in Toronto, Canada.
Mark Palmer
Non-Executive Director
Mark Palmer
Non- Executive Director
Mr Palmer is appointed pursuant to the Board Appointment Right in the investor's 2023 subscription agreement. He will replace Tembo board observer Yusuf Dada.
Mr Palmer is a Partner with Tembo Capital Management, based in London. Mr Palmer has 40 years' experience across the mining sector, having started his career as an exploration geologist in Australia. Mr Palmer spent 19 years with NM Rothschild & Sons and UBS in London in advisory roles to the mining sector, including 8 years running the EMEA metals and mining team within UBS Investment Banking. Mr Palmer joined Tembo in 2015 and is responsible for the Fund's lithium investments globally, including the Geo40 shareholding.
Jaime Araujo
Non-Executive Director
Jaime Araujo
Non- Executive Director
Jaime is a senior executive in the metals and minerals sector with 18 years’ of experience spanning investing, M&A, business development and strategy across roles in investment banking, private equity and at one of the world’s leading mining corporates.
He is currently based in London with Vision Blue, where he has been a Partner for almost 4 years, having led their initial and subsequent follow-on investments into Geo40, as well as various investments into Serra Verde, another portfolio investment, and strategically supporting the management team there.
Prior to joining Vision Blue, Jaime worked in the Business Development and M&A teams at BHP, where he played a key role in the identification, execution and implementation of acquisitions, disposals and other strategic funding and investment initiatives across multiple commodities and jurisdictions.
Jaime was also previously with Qatar-backed private mining fund QKR Corp., co-founded a private critical minerals developer in West Africa and spent his early career with UBS and Macquarie Capital.
John Worth
CEO and Managing Director
John Worth
CEO and Managing Director
John is an infrastructure development leader with over 25 years of experience in senior roles in the power generation, transport and property development sectors.
He has worked extensively in renewable energy including geothermal and has completed post-graduate studies in Engineering Management, Strategy and Innovation, and Private Equity & Venture Capital, at Auckland, Oxford and Harvard respectively.
His background includes time in start-ups and most recently he was CEO of an NZX-listed renewable electricity generator.
