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Brian Gavin, President, CEO and Director
Brian Gavin, a certified professional geologist, is responsible for overall corporate strategy and coordination of the Corporation's various projects, investor relations efforts and general corporate development. Gavin has more than 28 years experience in all phases of mineral exploration, project evaluation and project management. He has worked in the field as project manager and consultant in base metal, precious metal and industrial minerals programs in the US, Mexico, Nigeria, Romania and Argentina. Gavin is responsible for grassroots gold, silver and copper discoveries in the United States and Argentina. He holds a B.Sc. (Honours) degree in Geology from the University of London and a M.S. degree in Geology and Geophysics from the University of Missouri-Rolla. From 1981 to 1993 he was a consultant with Ernest K. Lehmann & Associates Inc, a geological mining consulting firm. From 1994 to 2009 he was Vice President of Exploration of Minera Andes Inc.
George D. Tikkanen, Chairman
George Tikkanen has been active in the mining and mineral exploration industry since 1956 with more than 22 years at senior corporate and Board level, having retired in 1999 from Cominco Ltd. as Vice President of Exploration and was President of Cominco Resources International from 1987 to 1995. From 1999 on, he has continued to be available as a consultant in the mining and mineral exploration industry. He has held directorships of many companies worldwide. He brings to the Corporation more than 45 years experience in mineral exploration, mining, mine project development, public company management and in relations between mining companies and indigenous groups. His many successes include management of programs that discovered the Polaris zinc deposit in northern Canada, the Kudz Ze Kayah base metal deposit in Yukon and the Hilltop, Aqqaluk and Paalaaq zinc deposits at Red Dog in Alaska. He was intimately involved with the exploration, development and operation of the Red Dog mine; the development and operation of the Buckhorn gold mine in Nevada and the Quebrada Blanca copper mine in Chile, the operation of the Pine Point zinc mine, the Con gold mine in Canada's NWT, the Black Angel zinc mine in Greenland, the Rubiales zinc mine in Spain, the Warm Springs phosphate mine in Montana and the Magmont lead-zinc mine in Missouri.
Bonnie L. Kuhn, Vice-President, Corporate Secretary and Director
Bonnie Kuhn is a solicitor who currently practices law in the areas of natural resources, corporate commercial and securities law. Ms. Kuhn is also the Secretary of Minera Andes Inc. She received a law degree from the University of Manitoba in 1989, and has practiced law in Alberta since 1990.
Chad Houck, CFO
Chad Houck joined Franconia as Corporate Controller in early 2007. He received his Masters Degree in Business Administration from Eastern Washington University in 1992, and also has Bachelor's Degrees in Financial Management, Business Management and Accounting. In 1999, after successfully completing the requirements as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the US, he worked in the Accounting Department at Sterling Savings Bank until 2005 and subsequently taught accounting at Eastern Washington University and Webster University before becoming a Senior Accountant with Providence Health Care in Spokane, Washington, where he remained until shortly before joining Franconia.
Lewis Lawrick, Director
Mr Lawrick is the President and CEO of Anaconda Mining Inc., a TSX listed exploration and development company. Mr. Lawrick is also the Managing Director of Thorsen-Fordyce Merchant Capital Inc. a private merchant bank focused on the mineral resource sector. In addition, he currently acts as director of Brionor Resouces Inc. (TSX-V), Volta Resources Inc.(TSX) and Serengeti Resources Inc. (TSX-V).
Allan J. Marter, Director
Allan Marter brings more than 25 years experience in the financial sector of the mining industry to the board of Franconia Minerals Corporation. Mr. Marter currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Copperbelt Minerals Limited, a private BVI company with a large copper-cobalt property in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For seven years through 2006, he was CFO of Golden Star Resources Ltd. During his tenure, Golden Star transitioned from an exploration company to an emerging mid-tier gold producer and he was responsible for numerous financings and acquisitions. From 2005 through 2009 he served as president of the board of EURO Ressources SA (TSX and Euronext: EUR) and had previously served as an officer and director of a number of North American junior exploration and mining companies. Currently, he also acts as a director for Minera Andes Inc. and Maestro Ventures Ltd. Mr. Marter was president of the Northwest Mining Association in 1993.
James S. Friedlander, Director
James S. Friedlander is an international lawyer who has also worked as a banker during his career (Harvard Law School and University of Wisconsin). He is currently the founding partner of Friedlander & Associates, with an office in Moscow, Russia. He also practices international law from a base in London. He acts as a lawyer and business advisor to companies and high net worth individuals from Africa and the Russian Federation. He has more than 40 years of corporate, financial and negotiation experience at international and senior levels of government and private sector. His experience covers private and public international finance and finance law (Citibank, Nairobi; World Bank and major African investment funds such as AIG African Infrastructure Fund and Modern Africa Growth & Investment Company) and financial and business transactions in Russia and Central Asia. He has worked for more than 23 years as a Consultant to the Foreign Investment Advisory Service of the World Bank, advising on drafting and implementation of investment codes of ten African countries. James lectured on foreign investment and debt swap transactions for many years at the International Law Institute in Washington, DC. He also is a director of BioPac Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (US).
CONSULTANTS
Dr. William C. Brice, Director of Government & Community Relations
Prior to joining Franconia in 2007, Mr. Brice spent 36 years with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR), including 19 years as Director of the Division of Lands & Minerals, where he had principal responsibility for the granting of environmental and mining permits throughout the state. He also served the MN DNR as Chair of the Senior Managers Council; Acting Administrator of the Bureau of Real Estate Management; and prior to his appointment as Director, was the Assistant Director, Division of Minerals; and, Manager of Environmental Services, Division of Minerals. With professional registrations as an Engineer and Geoscientist, Mr. Brice also holds a Ph.D. in Mineral Resources Engineering, from the University of Minnesota, specializing in environmental design, law and economics. He has written numerous articles on environmental concerns, mineral leasing and regulatory issues, which have been published in conference proceedings, agency reports and technical magazines.
Robert Galyen, Project Geologist
Prior to joining Franconia in 2007, Mr. Galyen had conducted geologic investigations throughout North America. His more than 30 years of experience have focused primarily on minerals exploration and development, as well as, several years investigating mining related environmental impacts. Mr. Galyen has supervised or participated in uranium, precious and base metal projects throughout the western U.S., Mexico and Costa Rica. These projects included conducting grass-roots exploration, designing and supervising drill programs, ore deposit modeling, software development and project management. Mr. Galyen holds a BSc in geology from Northern Arizona University, an MSc in geology from Idaho State University, post-graduate studies in ore deposit geochemistry at the University of Idaho, is an AIPG certified professional geologist and registered member of the SME.
Ernest K. Lehmann, Consultant
A certified professional geologist and past president of the American Institute of Professional Geologists, Ernest Lehmann has been active in the mineral industry since 1950. He is currently president of "MiningMinnesota." and on the state's Minerals Coordinating Committee and the Governor's Committee on Minnesota's Mining Future. Since managing Kennecott Copper Corporation's successful discovery of the New Lead Belt in Missouri in the mid-1950's, Mr. Lehmann has managed successful exploration programs across North America, as well as Central and South America, managed or evaluated mining operations in Europe, Africa, Mexico, South America and Southeast Asia.
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