David French

Position: President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. French is an international energy executive with 22 years of experience in the development and production of oil and gas fields in North America and overseas. He graduated from Rice University in Mechanical Engineering and has a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. Before this appointment he was Vice President of Business Development, coordinating acquisitions and divestments with Apache Corporation in Houston. With Apache, he has also served as Region Production Manager for Apache Canada in Calgary where he was involved in all areas of gas and oil operations including secondary and enhanced oil recovery, in Alberta and Saskatchewan; he has also served as Director of global HS&E in Houston. Mr. French worked for several years with McKinsey & Company in Houston, a management consulting firm where his work focused on energy firm growth, portfolio management, and capital efficiency. He started his career with Amoco where he gained extensive experience in oilfield operations with secondary and enhanced oil recovery projects in Texas and New Mexico.

Douglas C. Urch, B. Comm., CMA

Position: Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Urch joined Bankers Petroleum Ltd. in February 2008 and is currently Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer.  Bankers Petroleum operates heavy oil fields in Albania containing six billion barrels of original-oil-in-place and current production in excess of 10,000 bopd.  From September 2000 until January 2008, he was Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Rally Energy Corp., having heavy oil operations in Egypt.  Mr. Urch is currently a Director and Audit Committee Chairman of TSXV-listed Petrodorado Energy Ltd. and has provided financial management services for a variety of public and private companies (Mohave Exploration, Sunshine Oilsands, Barrington Petroleum, TriGas Exploration and Ryerson Oil and Gas).  He has over 30 years of oil and gas industry experience, is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) and a Commerce graduate from the University of Calgary.

Suneel Gupta

Position: Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Gupta has been with Bankers from commencement in July 2004 and has held several key roles with the Company including Vice-President, Production & Operations and General Manager & Vice-President, Albania. He was also a key member of the previous operator, Anglo-Albanian Petroleum Ltd., in the capacity of Technical Director and Production Manager. Prior to Bankers he held senior positions with several petroleum companies where he was integral to the development of heavy oil properties in international countries as well as in Canada. He brings over 20 years of oil and gas experience to the Bankers Executive team including specific work on the Patos-Marinza field in Albania over the past 9 years. Prior to this he held the position of Senior Staff Exploitation Engineer with Husky Energy Inc. and Senior Production Engineer with Renaissance Energy Ltd. and Pinnacle Resources Ltd. He started his career with Chevron Canada resources Ltd.

Mr. Gupta's technical expertise includes conventional oil, heavy oil, waterflood management, and property reserve evaluations. He is a graduate of the University of Calgary and holds a Master of Science degree in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. He is also a Professional Engineer in the Province of Alberta.

Bayne Assmus

Position: Vice-President, Production and Operations

Mr. Assmus is a professional engineer with over 20 years of field operations, technical and managerial experience throughout Western Canada, the United States, Europe and Africa. Prior to Bankers he increased production and net asset values in technical and production managerial roles with junior and major oil and gas producers including Harvest Operations Corp., Encana Oil & Gas and Petrovera Resources. He has a degree in Geological Engineering with a Geophysics major from the University of Saskatchewan and is a Professional Engineer in the Province of Alberta.

Robert Carss

Position: Vice-President, Health, Safety, Social and Environment (HSSE)

Mr. Carss is a professional geologist with 25 years of technical and managerial experience in the upstream oil and gas sector. He worked as a petroleum geologist for several years before switching into the HSSE field in the early 1990’s and has since worked domestically and internationally for several Canadian based Exploration and Production companies. Mr. Carss has HSSE experience in Northern and Western Canada, Europe, South America, Qatar, and Australia. He has managed corporate and operational HSSE issues in both onshore and offshore production and exploration operations.

Rob is currently the Vice President of Health, Safety, Security, Environment and Community Relations at Bankers Petroleum, based in Calgary. He has a Geology Degree from the University of Alberta and is a registered Professional Geologist with APEGGA.

Leonidha (Loni) Cobo

Position: Vice-President and General Director

Vice-President & General Director of Bankers Petroleum Albania Ltd. ("BPAL") since July 2009, Production & Operations Director of BPAL from March 2006 to June 2009, Deputy Technical Director of BPAL from June 2004 to February 2006, Deputy Director of QZHTTNR of Albpetrol from Mar 2004 to May 2004, Senior Reservoir Engineer, Anglo-Albanian Petroleum from 2000 to 2004.  Mr. Çobo has 17 years of experience and holds a Masters Degree and PhD in Geosciences.

Mark Hodgson

Position: Vice-President, Business Development

Mr. Hodgson brings 10 years of finance and capital markets experience to the Company. Previously he was Director of Institutional Sales with Tristone Capital and was an Equity Portfolio Manager with Sarbacan Capital LLP in London, England.

Mr. Hodgson holds a BS in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Craig Nardone

Position: Vice-President, Exploration and Development

Mr. Nardone is a professional geologist with more than 25 years experience in the exploration and development of oil and gas properties domestically and internationally with a strong focus on heavy oil. Before joining Bankers in 2007 he held senior staff technical and asset manager positions with Nexen Inc., developing several western Canada heavy oil properties using both primary and enhanced recovery methods. Previous professional positions include consulting geologist for Shell on a multi-billion barrel primary and thermal heavy oil field development project in the Middle East in addition to increasing production and asset values at Barrington Petroleum, Rife Resources and Amoco. He has a Masters Degree in geology and is a member of the CSPG, AAPG and APEGGA.

Richard Pawluk

Corporate Secretary

Partner of the law firm McCarthy Tétrault LLP since January 2003.