Delbert Wapass
Executive Chairman

Delbert Wapass recently served as Chief of Thunderchild First Nation for two terms and was an executive member with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) for two terms. Delbert currently serves as Vice-Chair on Canada's Indian Resource Council Board (IRC) and was Former Chair at IRC. He has also worked as an analyst for the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), the organization representing Canada's First Nations citizens.

Before entering Indigenous policy and politics, Mr. Wapass worked as a teacher, a school administrator, a researcher and in public relations, negotiations, human resources and finance. He holds a BA from the University of Regina, a B.Ed. and a Masters degree in Educational Administration from the University of Saskatchewan.

Stephen Mason
Managing Director

Mr. Mason brings over 40 years of success in developing domestic and international energy business opportunities. He has led the start-up of seven companies with the most significant being Artumas Group Inc. which reached an enterprise value of $1 billion with over 200 employees in Canada, Tanzania and Mozambique. Steve is also Chairman of the Board and co-founder of Westleaf, a public traded company.

Steve brings extensive experience with high-level government policy makers, First Nations communities and non-governmental agencies. He earned a B. Comm in Finance from the University of Guelph.

Wallace Fox
Alberta Regional Director

Mr. Fox is the Former Chief of the Onion Lake Cree Nation, spanning the Alberta Saskatchewan border north of Lloydminster. He is currently Chairman of Canada's Indian Resource Council which represents 134 First Nations involved in oil and gas production. He was first elected to the Onion Lake Cree Nation's Council at the age of 21 in 1983 before being elected Chief at age 25. In 2018, he decided to not seek re-election. As Chief, he strived for economic independence for his people through setting up a natural gas cooperative, negotiating a deal for oil development on his First Nation lands with Black Pearl Resources, and presenting on behalf of Treaty 6 people's at the United Nations in New York and Geneva. He has traveled as a member of government trade missions to Asia and Europe.

Wallace has been involved in Canadian Indigenous policy and politics as a member of the Assembly of Treaty Chiefs, the Federation of Sovereign Indian Nations, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, and the Assembly of First Nations. Mr. Fox's leadership is guided by the practice of Cree traditional ceremonies and the teachings of wise traditional knowledge keepers.

Shane Gottfriedson
B.C. Regional Director

Former Chief of T'kemlúps Te Secewepmec and former Tribal Chief of the Shuswap Nation and former Regional Chief of British Columbia. Shane has been instrumental in negotiating numerous land and resource development agreements with the Province of B.C. Government on resources within the traditional territory. He has worked on instrumental agreements with New Gold Inc. and Kinder Morgan Pipeline, Forestry and Range agreements, leasing Band lands and negotiating lands in the community's traditional territory.

Shane's overriding goal is to create win-win partnerships that generate jobs and revenue, while maintaining stewardship and environmental stewardship over our lands, and promoting an understanding of the right way to do business on First Nations traditional territory.

Pat Whelan
Managing Director

Pat brings over 30 years of executive leadership and entrepreneurial experience. Pat previously served as the Founder and CEO of Atlantic Directional Inc. which he sold to Ensign Energy Services in 2011. Pat is currently Executive V.P. for a publicly-listed, high growth cannabis retail product company.

Gregory John
V.P. Indigenous Relations

Mr. John is Cree Métis and is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta. He has worked in Indigenous and stakeholder relations for over 10 years for TransCanada Corporation, for Nexen Inc. and as an independent consultant.

Greg is an elected member of the University of Calgary Senate and is a member of the Chief's Indigenous Advisory Council for the Calgary Police Service. In 2018 he hosted several high-profile community events, which in part helped him raise nearly $500,000 for non-profits in Calgary and Area. Mr. John earned a B.Comm. in Finance from the University of Calgary.

Dr. Harrie Vredenburg
Executive Board Member

Dr. Vredenburg is Professor and Suncor Chair in Strategy and Sustainability at the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business. He also holds appointments as a Research Fellow at the School of Public Policy and as an International Research Fellow at the Saïd Business School at Oxford University. He founded Haskayne's Global Energy Executive MBA and served as its Academic Director from inception in 2010 to 2018. He serves as a non-executive member of the boards of directors of several public and private energy companies and holds the Institute of Corporate Directors ICD.D

Wendy Shaw-Mason
Communications

As a communications generalist, Wendy has a broad understanding of the energy sector and related infrastructure industries, as well as 12 years' experience in the capital markets as a Calgary-based investment advisor.

In recent years, she has worked with ATB Financial, Mosaic Communications and NATIONAL Public Relations and numerous clients in senior corporate and investor communications roles. Wendy has a Masters of Professional Communications, with a Speciality in Intercultural and International Communication.

Richard J.C. Grant
General Counsel

Mr. Grant has over 35 years of legal, land, business and management experience in the energy and resources sectors worldwide. Richard has acted for both Indigenous groups and industry in relation to negotiating over fifteen commercial joint ventures in Western Canada and the North pertaining to indigenous rights. Most recently Richard was a senior partner at Gowling WLG, Head of Oil and Gas.

Mr. Grant was lead counsel for Arctic Gas Resources, the proponent of the Northern Route Aboriginal Pipeline from North Slope Alaska to Edmonton via the 'over-the-top' and Mackenzie Valley routing. This pipeline was planned as a 100% Indigenous-owned, 100% debt financed pipeline. Richard has worked with numerous other pipelines, LNG facilities and gas and power plants in Canada, offshore and international.

Richard has extensive experience relating to pipelines, access, Indigenous and other communities' consultation and liaison. He has negotiated many impact benefit agreements, surface access agreements, master development agreements and other arrangements between industry and Indigenous groups to enable energy and resource projects to be completed.