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. In his extensive career Mr. Downie has participated in several gold and base metal discoveries and has received several awards 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 (NWOPA). In 2023, Ewan received the Lifetime Achievement Award from NWOPA.

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 16 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 Sale 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 is a former director of Gold Standard Ventures Corporation and 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 the Global Metals & Mining Group at McCarthy Tétrault LLP, a leading national law firm with offices in Canada, New York and London, and brings to i-80 Gold a wide breadth of legal, financing, cross-border M&A and corporate governance expertise. 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. Named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada and recognized by Chambers Canada for her resource sector expertise, Eva has developed a strong reputation as a strategic lawyer and advisor. Eva has sat on a number of public company boards and also lectures on Mining Finance at the Osgoode Certificate in Mining Law Program.

John Begeman

Director

Mr. Begeman is a Professional Mining Engineer with over 40 years of mining experience. Along with i-80 Gold, he is also a director for Allied Gold Corp and Pan American Silver. 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 public companies.

Greg Smith

Director

Greg Smith was appointed CEO and a Director of Equinox Gold on September 1, 2022. Mr. Smith had been President of Equinox Gold since March 2017, when JDL Gold merged with Luna Gold, and helped to lead the team through four mergers and an asset acquisition to grow the company from a single-asset developer to a multi-asset producer. Prior to his role as CEO of 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 Mr. Smith 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 Mr. Smith is a director of i-80 Gold, and is chair of Sandbox Royalties. 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.