Position: President, CEO & Director
Dr William H Bird holds a PhD in Geology from the Colorado School of Mines, is a registered professional geologist, and has over 40 years of mining and corporate experience. He possesses a strong combination of business credentials and mineral-industry expertise. His practical and theoretical understanding of geology (most notably rare-earth elements), mineralogy, and metallurgy is recognized as exceptional.
Since his early career as a mineralogy professor, Dr Bird has pursued his long-standing interest in rare-earth elements and their mineral occurrences around the world. In 2005, he became CEO of Rare Element Resources, which owns the prominent Bear Lodge REE and gold property, where he was given the mandate of to reorganize and refocus the company. Dr Bird left Rare Element Resources at the end of 2007 to devote his energy and expertise to Medallion Resources.
Position: Acting CFO & Director
Don Lay has over 25 years of experience in venture capital, public-market communications and technology startups. He has also served as a director for a number of public companies including several mineral-exploration companies such as International Taurus Resources Inc, American Bonanza Gold Corp Inc and Medallion Resources Ltd. Mr. Lay is currently Vice President, Communications and Corporate Development for Functional Technologies (TSX-V: FEB), a life-sciences company. Don was a principal at China Mobile Soft, a seed-funded, embedded-software supplier that delivered solutions to Chinese telephone handset makers. China Mobile Soft was ultimately sold to ACCESS of Japan. Before entering the venture-capital world in 1994, Mr Lay invested 13 years in enterprise-applications development and software sales and support. Don holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia.
Position: Corporate Secretary
Janet Horbulyk has 25 years experience with securities and stock-exchange regulatory matters, including seven years with the Listings Department of the Vancouver Stock Exchange. Janet has been working with the Medallion management team for over 16 years.
Position: Director
Mr David Haber serves in Vancouver as the Honorary Consul, Republic of Austria. He was educated in Austria and graduated from the Vienna Business School. In 1981, Mr Haber founded what later became Heath Benefits Consulting Inc., a major National Pension and Benefits consultancy with offices in six major Canadian centres. In 2006, he sold Heath Benefits Consulting to Morneau Sobeco, the largest Canadian employee benefits consultancy, where he served on its Senior Executive Committee until early 2009. As a past President and Founding Member of the BC Chapter of the Certified Employee Benefits Specialists (CEBS), Mr Haber has played a key role in the development of the benefits industry in British Columbia. He is a member of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP), the Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute (CPBI), and BC HRMA.
Position: Director
Mr Rod McKeen is a lawyer, and a founder and principal of Axium Law Corporation in Vancouver, Canada, since January 2004. Mr. McKeen has more than 25 years experience in all facets of securities and corporate law pertaining to the mining and mineral-exploration industry. Prior to forming Axium Law Corporation, Mr McKeen was a partner in the law firm of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP and a partner with the law firm Montpellier McKeen Varabioff Talbot and Giuffre. Mr McKeen's practice encompasses emerging to mid-size mineral-resource companies with projects and operations around the world and involves dealing with stock exchanges and mergers, acquisitions and financing transactions on a similarly global basis. Mr McKeen earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Position: Director
Mr Andrew Morden is a seasoned corporate director and executive with over 20 years of experience in operations, finance, technology, investor relations and public markets. Mr Morden is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the University of British Columbia. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the Internet Marketing Center, a private company providing software and business-solutions consulting. He has also worked with a mix of large and small companies including Intrinsyc Software International (TSX:ICS) and Digital Dispatch Systems (TSX:DDS) as CFO and Secretary; Intrawest Corporation(TSX and NYSE) as the Vice President, Financial Planning and Systems; KPMG as a Senior Manager in the Assurance and Corporate Finance practices; and SAP Canada as a Client Manager. He specializes in taking small companies to the next level of growth.
Position: Manager, Investor relations
Erica C Bearss has her Masters in Business (MBA) from Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC as well as a Bachelors degree in Modern Language and Literature with a concentration in Spanish from the University of Ottawa. Ms Bearss has over ten years experience in public relations, marketing and communications; eight of which have been focused on corporate communications for publicly traded companies.