Management

Mr. Brian Paes-Braga is a Canadian-born entrepreneur, merchant banking executive, and author. Currently, he serves as Managing Partner at SAF Group, a leading structured credit and merchant banking group which builds, invests, finances, and advises high growth companies as well as provides flexible and long-term capital solutions to public and private corporations while providing stable returns for investors through its structured credit arm. As an executive, Mr. Paes-Braga was Founder and CEO of Lithium X Energy Corp., a lithium resource company which, within 2.5 years, raised approximately CDN$53 million and was acquired in an all-cash deal for CDN$265 million. Mr. Paes-Braga was formerly Chair of the board of directors of Thunderbird Entertainment, and a former board member of DeepGreen Metals (now TMC the metals company Inc.), which closed a >US$2 billion go-public transaction on the NASDAQ in September 2021 and aims to supply the world with ethical, clean metals harvested from the deep ocean floor.

Mr. Fonseca has over 24 years of experience in the oil & gas and investment banking sectors and has extensive in country experience in Colombia. Most recently, Mr. Fonseca served as Structure Trade Finance Director for the oil bench in Europe, the Middle East and Africa for British Petroleum. He has worked at BP p.l.c., Frontera Energy Corp., Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp., Citigroup Inc., BBVA S.A. and Corporacion Andina de Fomento (CAF). His experience encompasses corporate finance, structured finance, project finance, mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, debt capital markets, bond issuance, corporate restructuring, derivatives, treasury management and more. He has been a part of leading and closing cross border transactions amounting to over US$22 billion, in aggregate. Mr. Fonseca holds a Bachelor (Honors) of Science in Economics from Buckingham University (UK) and a Masters (Honors) in International Finance from the University of Glasgow (UK).

Mr. Prieto has over 18 years of experience, primarily in the oil & natural gas industry in Colombia, specializing in treasury, capital markets, structured finance, M&A, debt restructuring and energy asset commercialization. He has led the structuring of banking financings and the issuance of international bonds exceeding $10 billion. He previously served as Director of Treasury, Capital Markets, Commercialization, and Transportation at Sierracol Energy and held various roles at Frontera Energy Corp., including Director of Treasury and New Business. Mr. Prieto began his career at S&P BRC ratings and Incorbank investment banking. He has also been a member of the board of directors of Oleoducto de los Llanos. In addition to his corporate career, he has been a university professor for ten years, teaching finance at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Mr. Prieto holds a Bachelor's degree in Finance and International Relations from Universidad Externado de Colombia and a Master's in Financial Management from Instituto Europeo de Posgrados.

Mr. Leonardo Chávez brings over 23 years of experience in the oil and natural gas industry, with a background that includes serving as Chief Operating Officer for Bond Energy Solutions in Colombia, and a 19-year tenure at Schlumberger, where he held various leadership positions such as Sales & Marketing Manager for Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, Operations Manager for Latin America North, and other key roles. Mr. Chávez holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Universidad Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela, and two executive MBAs from Mannheim Business School in Germany and ESSEC Business School in France.

Mrs. Marianella Bernal has more than 14 years of experience in public and private sectors related to investment, strategic and financial planning. She served as Private Advisor to the Minister of Information & Communication Technologies of Colombia and as a Chief of its Strategic Planning Office between 2015 and 2018. Other positions Mrs. Bernal had previously held include Chief of Strategic Planning Office of Cormagdalena (between 2013 and 2015), Commercial Advisor at Hem Securities Stockbroker and Corporate Account Manager at Bancolombia.

Mr. Vincenzo Paglione is a Petroleum Engineer with 45 years of experience in the World Hydrocarbons Industry, occupying technical, managerial and executive positions worldwide. Previously President of Intevep (R&D for PDVSA), President of Codicit, Vice President and member of the PDVSA Board, Member of the Board of Nynas in Sweden and Roehr Oel in Germany, Coordinator of Citgo Board in the US, Advisor to ENI Board, member of the team for Shell’s Growth Plan strategy in Qatar, Management of Shell’s relationships with Eni and Repsol, Deputy Chairman of Shell Italia E&P, External Director and Member of the Board of Anzon Energy in Australia, Several positions in the World Energy Council (WEC), Atlantic Council and DOE in the US, President of the Venezuelan-Japanese Chamber.

Mr. Carlos Núñez de León is a lawyer with a master’s in administrative law from the University Del Rosario and a major degree in criminal law from the Universidad De Salamanca. Mr. Núñez has previously served as the main law professor at Universidad Del Rosario where he was part of the academic council of the Law School. He is currently President of the Colombian Association of Administrative Lawyers. Mr. Núñez has previously served as the managing partner of the consulting firm Aventtus, where he was responsible for the structuring, financing and execution of projects in the energy and mining sectors. Since February 2024, he has served as Co-Judge of the National Judicial Discipline Commission, the highest authority of the disciplinary system of the Judicial Branch and lawyers in Colombia.