Management Team

Ewan Downie

Chief Executive Officer & Director

Ewan Downie is an accomplished company builder and entrepreneur with more 25 years experience in the mining sector. Mr. Downie served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Premier from May 2006 to April 7, 2021. Mr. Downie is also Non-Executive Chairman and a director of Wolfden Resources Corporation and a director of Clean Air Metals Inc. In his extensive career Mr. Downie has participated in several gold and base metal discoveries and has been awarded accolades to reflect this success including the 2003 recipient of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, Bill Dennis Prospector of The Year and several Exploration, and Development acknowledgements from the Northwestern Ontario Prospectors Association.

Matthew Gili

President & Chief Operating Officer

Matthew Gili is a Professional Mining Engineer with experience spanning Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Technical Officer and General Manager roles. His deep technical experience included previously being Executive General Manager -Cortez District, leading one of Barrick’s top mining operations in Nevada, following which Matt was promoted to Chief Technical Officer for Barrick Gold Corporation. Additional operational experience included roles with Rio Tinto as the Managing Director of the Palabora Mining Company in South Africa and Chief Operating Officer of Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia. Most recently as the Chief Executive Officer of Nevada Copper Corporation, Mr. Gili leveraged his broad experience in leading a publicly listed mining corporation.  Passionate about Safety & Environmental Stewardship Mr. Gili was previously Chairman of the Palabora Foundation, Chairman of Mongolian Safety Association (MISA), and is currently on the Management Advisory Board of the University of Nevada – Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering.

Matt Gollat

Executive Vice-President Business & Corporate Development

Matthew Gollat is an accomplished executive with more than 12 years public company experience in many aspects of the mine development cycle. Mr. Gollat was previously the Vice-President of Business Development at Premier Gold Mines where he participated in multiple corporate and strategic development projects including the acquisition of Premier, the spin out of i-80 Gold, and the earlier creation of Premier Royalty Corp. Mr. Gollat holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from Lakehead University and completed the Certificate of Mining Studies Program through the University of British Columbia. He previously served as an independent director for Nomad Royalty Company Ltd until they were acquired in 2022.

Ryan Snow

Chief Financial Officer

Ryan Snow is a mining finance professional with over 15 years of experience in financial management and reporting in both Canada and the United States (IFRS and US GAAP), internal controls, M&A, risk management and taxation. Prior to joining i-80 Gold Mr. Snow served most recently as Vice-President of Finance for Nevada Copper, where he helped to secure project financing and restructure debt during the construction and production ramp up of the Pumpkin Hollow mine. Mr. Snow was the Vice-President, Finance and Controller for Tahoe Resources during which time he oversaw the financial aspects of the Sarbanes-Oxley implementation, two business acquisitions, and progressed the Escobal mine in Guatemala and the Shahuindo Mine in Peru through construction to commercial production. He began his professional career at Hecla Mining Company and holds a B.B.A. in Accounting (with distinction) from Gonzaga University.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Ron Clayton

Chairman

Ron Clayton is a highly experienced mining executive with over 40 years in the business. He has successfully guided companies through the mine life cycle, including advanced-stage exploration, development, construction, and mining. Mr. Clayton sits on the Board of Directors of i-80 Gold Corp and Gold Standard Ventures Corporation. He is a former Director of 1911 Gold Corporation. He acted as the President, CEO and Director of Tahoe Resources Inc. until June of 2018, and President & CEO for 1911 Gold Corporation until March 2022. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President, Operations, and the General Manager of several underground mines for Hecla Mining Company, and served as Vice President, Operations with Stillwater Mining Company. In addition, Mr. Clayton earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Mining Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and is a graduate of the Tuck School of Business Executive Program at Dartmouth.

Eva Bellissimo

Director

Eva Bellissimo co-leads McCarthy Tétrault’s Global Metals & Mining Group and brings to i-80 a wide breadth of legal, financial, merger and acquisition (M&A) and corporate governance experience and knowledge. With more than 20 years of experience in the mining industry, Eva has been a trusted advisor to numerous companies in the sector, having led hundreds of transactions and has developed a strong reputation as a strategic transactional lawyer. In addition to her law practice, Eva remains actively involved with the Western University Law School where she has been a regular lecturer on mining corporate finance and is the Chair of the Advisory Council for the DAN Management Program. Eva also lectures on Mining Law at the Osgoode Hall Law School Professional Development Certificate Program.

John Begeman

Director

Mr. Begeman is a Professional Mining Engineer with over 40 years of mining experience. He recently sat on the board of directors of Yamana Gold Inc. He served on the board of Premier Gold Mines Limited in 2006 and became its Chairman in 2015. He has previously served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Avion Gold Corporation from 2008 to 2012, as the President and Chief Executive Officer and director of Valencia Ventures Ltd. from 2008 to 2010, as the Chief Operating Officer of Zinifex Canada Inc. from 2006 to 2008 and as Vice President, Western Operations of Goldcorp from 2000 to 2006. In his capacity for Goldcorp, he was responsible for its surface gold operations in South Dakota and the Industrial Minerals Division in Saskatchewan. Previous to his employment at Goldcorp, Mr. Begeman held various engineering and management positions with Morrison Knudsen Company in the contract mining operations group throughout the Western United States.

Mr. Begeman holds a B.S. in Mining Engineering, an M.S. in Engineering Management and an MBA. He has completed the Rotman-ICD Directors Education program and is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors with the ICD.D designation. He is also a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors and is NACD Directorship Certified.

John Seaman

Director

John Seaman was the Chief Financial Officer of Premier Gold Mines from August 2006 to June 2012 and Chief Financial Officer of Wolfden Resources Inc. from October 2002 to May 2007. He also sat on the board for Premier as Lead Director. John is and has been a director and/or officer of various small-cap public companies and is currently President and CEO of a private security company.

Greg Smith

Director

Greg Smith has been President of Equinox Gold since March 2017, when JDL Gold merged with Luna Gold and Greg transitioned from his role as CEO of JDL Gold. Prior to his role with JDL Gold, he held the roles of CEO and founder of Anthem United, President and CEO of Esperanza Resources prior to its sale to Alamos Gold, and CFO of Minefinders Corporation prior to its sale to Pan American Silver. Previously Greg has held management positions at both Goldcorp and the mining division of KPMG LLP, and he also acted as a director of Premier Royalty prior to its sale to Sandstorm Gold. Currently Greg is a director and the Audit Committee Chair of both Chesapeake Gold and Royalty North Partners. Greg is a Canadian Chartered Professional Accountant. 

Arthur Einav

Director

Arthur Einav is General Counsel and Senior Managing Director at Sprott Inc.  Before joining Sprott, Mr. Einav was an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and McCarthy Tétrault LLP. He holds a Bachelor of Laws degree and a Masters in Business Administration from Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business. Mr. Einav also holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto, is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the New York State Bar, holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Christina McCarthy

Director

Christina McCarthy is a geologist with over 15 years of experience in the resource capital markets. She is the former President & CEO of Paycore Minerals Inc. Ms. McCarthy served as Director of Corporate Development for McEwen Mining Inc. from December 2014 to December 2019. and was the Vice President of Corporate Development for New Oroperu Resources Inc. She spent the past 15 years in various roles including building an exempt market dealer focusing on resources, equity research at Euro Pacific and Institutional Sales at Haywood Securities. Prior to entering the resource capital markets, she worked in Scandinavia for a junior exploration company managing the  exploration programs on multiple projects throughout Norway and Sweden. Christina was also influential in building and supporting one of the leading resource IPO’s in 2020, New Found Gold Corp.