Board & Team

Peter Nicol

Non-executive Chairman

Peter has over 40 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry in both industry and investment banking. He was a partner and Head of Oil & Gas at GMP Securities, Executive Managing Director at Tristone Capital, Global Sector Director of Oil Research at ABN Amro and Head of European Oil and Gas at Goldman Sachs.

He has worked with and advised a number of small-medium cap and private-equity financed companies in the UK, Canada and Norway on M&A, financing and as a Director. Mr Nicol holds a BSc in Mathematics and Economics from Strathclyde University in Glasgow.

External appointments:

• Touchstone Exploration Inc. (Non-executive Director)
• Deltic Energy Plc (Non-executive Director)
• ERC Equipoise Limited (Independent Director)
• Thorogood Associates (Independent Director)

Eco Committee membership:  

• Audit committee (Chairman)
• Compensation committee (Chairman)

Gil Holzman

President & Chief Executive Officer

Gil has 25 years’ experience in the global mining and energy sectors. Gil has successfully managed a portfolio of private and publicly listed resource and energy companies throughout South America and Africa. He brings extensive international negotiation expertise and has completed multiple corporate acquisitions and asset mergers. Prior to co-founding Eco Atlantic, Gil was a co-founder of a private resource investment and development company, and, between 2003 and 2006, he was the Managing Director of Bombardier Inc’s Middle East Region. Gil has also held a variety of strategic consultancy roles, including co-founding the political consultancy, GCS Issue Management Ltd.

Mr Holzman has a BA in Business Management and Finance and an LLB in Israeli and International Law from Reichman University (IDC Herzilya). He also has an MBA from The Arison School of Business Reichman University.

Colin Kinley

Chief Operating Officer

Colin is CEO of Kinley Exploration LLC, leading a team of industry experts providing professional, technical and oversight expertise to international resource companies within the upstream sector. With 40 years of international expertise in integrated energy project management and the development of new energy companies, Colin has served as a senior executive to several E&P companies and oilfield service companies, as well as possessing significant experience in frontier resource development.

Mr Kinley has extensive experience around the world working in remote and frontier areas and is a specialist in applications of exploration and applied drilling technologies.

External appointments:

• Jet Mining Pty LLC (President and CEO)
• Marimaca Copper (Non-executive Director)
• Excelsior Mining Corp. (Non-executive Director)

Selma Usiku

Non-Executive Director

Selma is an experienced exploration geologist with a history of working in South Africa and in both the Namibian Oil & Energy and diamond industries. Selma’s experience is predominantly in exploration geoscience, geophysics, basin modelling, petroleum geology and earth sciences, from almost 10 years as an exploration geologist with Brazilian HRT and Azinam. Selma was directly involved in the wild cat wells that made Namibia’s first technical discovery of hydrocarbons at the Wingat-1 Walvis Basin play opener in 2013. Selma is an active member of the Namibia Petroleum Operators Association and currently Exploration Geologist with Debmarine Namibia.

Miss Usiku holds a Master of Science (MSc) focused in Petroleum Geoscience from Royal Holloway, University of London. In 2018, Selma received Global Women Petroleum & Energy Club Award for Excellence in Africa, and she was an Ambassador for the Geoscience Council of Namibia in 2021.

Keith Hill

Non-executive Director

Keith has over 40 years’ experience in the oil industry including over 20 years with the Lundin Group as well as international new venture management and senior exploration positions at Occidental Petroleum and Shell Oil Company. Mr. Hill previously served as President and CEO of Africa Oil Corp., Valkyries Petroleum, BlackPearl Resources and Shamaran Petroleum.  His education includes a MSc in Geology and BSc degree in Geophysics from Michigan State University. Additionally, he also holds an MBA from the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

External appointments:

• Africa Oil Corp. (Director)
• Africa Energy Corp. (Non-executive Director)
• TAG Oil (Independent Director)

Eco Committee membership:  

• Audit committee
• Compensation committee

Dr Oliver Quinn

Non-Executive Director

Oliver has 20 years’ experience in the energy industry across technical, commercial, and executive leadership roles. He began his career as a geologist for Shell before moving to the independent sector in a variety of PE startups, mid-size and large E&P companies. Oliver has worked extensively across Americas, Asia and EMEA business development and asset leadership, building and managing significant exploration, development and production portfolios. He was appointed as the Chief Commercial Officer of Africa Oil in September 2023, having previously been Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at Kosmos Energy focused on strategy and M&A. Prior to that he was a member of the Executive and Investment committees at Ophir Energy. Oliver holds a BSc in Geology from the University of Manchester, a PhD in Geoscience from the University of Edinburgh and executive leadership qualifications from London and Harvard Business Schools.

External Appointments

• Mater Christi Multi-Academy Trust (Director)

Eco Committee membership:  

• n/a

Alice Carroll

Executive Director – Head of Corporate Sustainability

Alice is an experienced international stakeholder and external relations professional, with over a decade of experience within the oil & gas industry.

Alice is skilled in marketing strategy and project execution, leading communications, and external relations on country entries, asset acquisitions, and monetisation across a global portfolio. Alice previously worked with Azinor Catalyst, the UK focused Oil and Gas exploration company, before becoming the Global Marketing and Investor Relations Manager for the Seacrest Azimuth Group, managing all external and stakeholder relations across UK, Ireland, Namibia, South Africa, Brazil, Honduras and Indonesia. Miss Carroll holds a BSc First Class honours in Biology with Science and Society from the University of Manchester.

In 2018, she was recognised by the Tennis Federation of Kosovo for devoting 6 years working to establish a sustainable children’s tennis coaching project.

Gadi Levin

Finance Director

Gadi is a chartered accountant with many years’ of experience in the public and private equity markets. His experience spans multiple jurisdictions including South Africa, the UK and Israel. Gadi has acted as financial controller for Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas on a consultancy basis since November 2014 and was appointed as Finance Director of the company on 28 November 2016.

He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Accounting and Information Systems, has received his Chartered Accountant designation in South Africa and has an MBA from Bar Ilan University in Israel.

External appointments:

• Vaxil Bio Ltd. (Chief Financial Officer)
• Briacell Therapeutics Corp.(Chief Financial Officer)

Alan Friedman

Non-executive Director

Alan, a South African qualified attorney, has involved in the North American public markets for nearly 25 years’ and has a depth of experience in representing, advising, and assisting companies in acquiring assets, accessing capital, public transactions and advising on M&A, and managing emerging growth businesses.

He is the managing partner and co-founder of Bayline Capital Partners, a Canadian based capital markets advisory boutique, involved in the business of identifying, financing and managing a portfolio of companies across a wide range of sectors. Alan was also the co-founder of Auryx Gold Corp, sold to B2 Gold for $200m; Osino Resources and Enthusiast Gaming.

External appointments:

• Bayline Capital Partners (Managing partner)

Eco Committee membership:  

• Audit committee
• Compensation committee

Kampta Persaud

Country Manager, Guyana

Kampta has an extensive career in the energy and minerals sector, and having joined Eco in 2016, supports the Company’s operations in Guyana and is responsible for overseeing asset and corporate activities.

Kampta has over thirty years of experience working in government for the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) as a Senior Geologist, before serving as Manager and Deputy Commissioner for the Geological Services Division and the Mines Geological, Land Management and Environmental Division of the GGMC, respectively. This has enabled Kampta to possess expertise in both the energy and commodities sectors, with extensive knowledge in strategizing and leading drilling projects and establish strong relationships with the government.

Kampta was awarded a BSc in Geology from Queen Mary, University of London, and also possesses specialist diplomas in Remote Sensing and the Uranium Fuel Cycle.

Tironenn Kauluma

Country Manager, Namibia

Tironenn has worked with Eco since 2011, supporting Eco’s first activities in Namibia. Tironenn now oversees Eco’s operations in Namibia, ensuring that asset and corporate activities run smoothly and efficiently.

Tironenn has extensive experience in both the energy and commodities industry, having worked as Managing Director of a diamond advisory company, advising the Government on a maximisation strategy for the economic value of the country’s rough diamonds. Tironenn is highly regarded within the energy industry, having also worked as a developer and strategic equity investor in renewable energy.

Tironenn holds a Bachelor of Law, awarded by the University of Namibia (2015), in addition to a Bachelor of Juris (2012) and in Business Administration (2004) by the same institution.

Helmut Angula

Senior Advisor

Helmut has served as the Finance Minister and Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy, as well as five other cabinet portfolios within the Government of Namibia for a period spanning over 20 years. Since leaving the Government of Namibia, Helmut has focused on private business opportunities and is a consultant to the mining, energy, infrastructure and real estate industries in Namibia.