top of page
Reunion Gold drilling in Guyana

Board of Directors

David A. Fennell

Executive Chairman

David Fennell has been Chairman of Reunion Gold since its inception in 2003. He has 40 years of experience in the mining industry. He received a law degree from the University of Alberta in 1979 and practiced law until he founded Golden Star Resources Ltd in 1983. During his term as president and CEO, Golden Star became one of the largest and most successful exploration companies. While at Golden Star, he was instrumental in the discovery and development of the Omai Gold Mine in Guyana and the Gross Rosebel Mine in Suriname. In 1998, Mr. Fennell became chairman and CEO of Hope Bay Gold Corporation. He held this position through the merger of Hope Bay and Miramar Mining Corporation and remained as executive vice-chairman and director for the combined entity until its takeover by Newmont Mining Corporation in 2008. Mr. Fennell is currently a member of the board of directors of G Mining Ventures Corp. and Sabina Gold & Silver Corp.

Elaine Bennett

Independent Director and Chair of the Audit Committee

Elaine Bennett joined the Board of Reunion Gold in 2017.  Ms. Bennett is a chartered professional accountant and has 30 years of experience as financial executive in the mining industry including experience in financial reporting, mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, mine construction, accounting and information technology. From 2008 to 2021, Ms. Bennett was Vice President Finance and CFO at Sabina Gold & Silver Corp., an advanced exploration and development company listed on the TSX. Prior to joining Sabina, she was VP Finance and CFO at Miramar Mining Corporation which was acquired by Newmont in 2007. Ms. Bennett has also been director and chair of the audit committee of three junior exploration company listed on the TSXV having activities abroad. 

Pierre Chenard 

Independent & Lead Director, and Chair of the CNG Committee

Pierre Chenard joined the Board of Reunion in 2022. Mr. Chenard is an experienced, accomplished and well-rounded international business executive. He has held progressive roles in both the corporate development and legal areas over the past 35 years. Mr. Chenard is currently Chief Executive Officer of Manara Minerals Investment Company, a new venture between the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) to invest in mining assets globally and support the development of resilient global supply chains. From February 2021, Mr. Chenard was Executive Vice President and Head of Strategy at Allied Gold Corp until its business combination and going public transaction was completed in September 2023, after which he continued as a non-executive director. From April 2019 to February 2021, he was Executive VP, Corporate Development & Strategy at AngloGold Ashanti. Prior to that, Mr. Chenard spent 12 years with Rio Tinto Aluminum including 8 years as Vice President, Business Development and General Counsel, Aluminium. From 1988 to 2000, Mr. Chenard was Vice President and Head of Corporate Development at Cambior Inc., a Canadian mining company who had mining operations in various countries including Guyana and Suriname. Mr. Chenard earned Civil and Common Law degrees from McGill University and has been a member of the Quebec Bar since 1984.

Richard Cohen

Independent Director 

Richard (Rick) Cohen joined the Board of Reunion Gold in 2020. He has worked in the investment industry since 1983, the first 15 years as a mining analyst and subsequently as an investment banker. More recently, he worked as managing director of Dundee Goodman Merchant Partners, a division of Goodman & Company, Investment Counsel Inc. from November 2018 until it ceased its investment banking activities in December 2022. He previously served as managing director of Dundee Securities Inc. from April to November 2018 and prior thereto he was managing director of Primary Capital Inc., an exempt market dealer, where the focus was on financing and M&A advisory work from 2011 to March 2018. During his career, he has reviewed numerous mineral projects from exploration through to producing mines. Mr. Cohen has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mineral Engineering from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from Western University.

Adrian Fleming

Independent Director and Chair of the SESR Committee

Adrian Fleming joined the Board of Reunion Gold in 2020. He is an independent director. In addition to being Lead Director, he chairs the Safety, Environment and Social Responsibility Committee. Mr. Fleming is a professional geologist with over 40 years of experience with exploration and development stage mining companies in North and South America (including in the Guiana Shield region) and in Australia. He was the co-founder and president of Underworld Resources from 2006-2010. Mr. Fleming led the team which made the discovery and defined the maiden resource of the million-ounce White Gold deposit in Yukon. The project was subsequently acquired by Kinross in 2010. Mr. Fleming was also involved with gold discoveries and/or developments at Porgera in PNG, Big Bell in Western Australia, Gross Rosebel in Suriname and Hope Bay in Nunavut. He was a founding Director of Northern Empire Resources which was acquired by Coeur Mining.  Mr. Fleming holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Geology from University of Newcastle. He is a Member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

Réjean Gourde

Director 

Rejean Gourde has been a director of Reunion Gold since 2011 and he was President and CEO from 2017 until he retired in June 2021. Mr. Gourde has more than four decades of experience in the mining industry. From 1994 to 2006, Mr. Gourde was Senior VP of the Guiana Shield Division at Cambior Inc. (now IAMGOLD). In that role he was responsible for the operations of Omai Gold Mines in Guyana, Rosebel Gold Mines in Suriname and other projects in the Guiana Shield. Since 2007, Mr. Gourde has worked as a mining consultant on several mining projects including the Essakane and Bomboré projects in West Africa, and other projects in Guyana and Peru. Mr. Gourde holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mining Engineering from Polytechnique Montreal and is a registered Professional Engineer in Quebec. 

Rick Howes

Director, President and CEO

Rick Howes joined the Board of Reunion Gold in November 2022. He is a seasoned mining executive with over 39 years of experience in the mining industry, most recently as CEO of Dundee Precious Metals. Mr. Howes has extensive operating, technical and project development experience in both underground and open pit mines throughout Canada and internationally. He has a track record for leading transformational change and operational excellence wherever he has worked. His passion for safety was instrumental in leading Vale’s North Mine to win the National Ryan Award for the safest mine in Canada in 2006. In 2009, Mr. Howes joined Dundee Precious Metals, where as VP and General Manager he led the transformation of the Chelopech Mine in Bulgaria to reach world class levels of performance. He became COO in 2011 and oversaw several significant growth capital development projects including the expansion of the Chelopech Mine, the upgrade and expansion of the Tsumeb Smelter in Namibia and the development of the greenfield Ada Tepe open pit gold mine in Bulgaria. He was appointed CEO in April 2013, where he led the company from a junior gold producer to a multi-asset mid-tier gold producer generating strong free cashflow and solid returns to shareholders. Mr. Howes retired from Dundee Precious Metals in 2020 and has since joined several mining company boards. He has been recognized as a visionary leader in mining, organizational innovation and transformation and was recognized as the Outstanding Innovator of 2016 by the International Mining Technology Hall of Fame. 


Mr. Howes holds a Bachelor of Applied Science with Honours in Mining Engineering from Queens University, Kingston, Ontario and is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Vijay N.J. Kirpalani

Independent Director

Vijay Kirpalani has been a director of Reunion Gold since its inception in 2003. He has served on the Board of directors of Hope Bay Gold Corp. and Ariane Gold Corp., both listed on the TSX. Mr Kirpalani is the Chief Executive Officer of Kirpalani's N.V., a private company based in Suriname. He is a graduate of the University of Suriname (law) and studied in corporate finance at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Kirpalani has been serving on the Supervisory Board of the Gross Rosebel Mine operating company in Suriname since 2002.

Fred Stanford

Independent Director and Chair of the Technical Committee

Fred Stanford joined the Board in 2022. Mr. Stanford is a mining executive with 40 years of experience in the mining industry. He was CEO and a director of Rhyolite Resources Ltd. from September 2021 to December 2022.  Mr. Stanford previously served as President and CEO of Torex Gold Resources  from 2009 to 2020, and as Executive Chairman from mid-2020 to mid-2021. He started his career at Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco and Inco Limited) in 1981 as a software designer and then moved into operations management as an underground mine foreman. He progressed through senior roles in mines operations, processing plant operations, engineering, environmental, health and safety, human resources, and production services operations. In 2006, he was appointed to the role of President of Vale’s Ontario operations, a position he held until June of 2009. Mr. Stanford graduated in Industrial Engineering from the Technical University of Nova Scotia. He is also a certified director with the Institute of Corporate Directors. 

bottom of page