Board of Directors

Paolo Lostritto, P.Eng

Chairman of the Board

Mr. Lostritto has an extensive background in mining capital markets and working with companies across the globe since 1997. Paolo has helped assess different companies/projects and helped finance them as they advanced through exploration, development, and production. Some of the companies where Paolo was involved early include: Kirkland Lake Gold, Novagold and Lake Shore Gold in 2004; Romarco Minerals in 2006; Victoria Gold and Volta Resources in 2009.

Mr. Lostritto is currently serving as the V.P. of Corporate Development for Sailfish Royalty Corp. which has exposure to a number of sizable royalties including the higher-grade San Albino mine in Nicaragua. Paolo is a co-founder and board member of Interstellar Mining Inc which is focused on leveraging a leading Canadian space mining robotics group (Deltion Innovations Ltd.) along with Watts, Griffis, and McOuat Ltd.’s space mining group to develop and produce energy commercially for the rapidly growing space industry. Over his career, Mr. Lostritto was a Director of the Mining Equity Research at National Bank Financial and worked in equity research at Wellington West, Scotia Capital and TD Securities. He served as an Independent Director at Savary Gold Corp. which was sold to SEMAFO in 2019.

Mr. Lostritto holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Geological and Mineral Engineering in Rock Mechanics from the University of Toronto and he is a registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario..

Robert Vallis, P.Eng, MBA

Director, President and CEO

Mr. Vallis is a mining executive with a wide breadth of business and technical experience across multiple areas including corporate development, strategy and planning, business/transaction development and execution, project and team management, financial evaluations, enterprise continuous improvement and mine Engineering/operations. Mr. Vallis most recently was the SVP Corporate Development with Golden Star Resources. Before this, Mr. Vallis was with Yamana Gold as a Business Development executive for nearly nine years working on transactions such as the C$3.9 Billion joint acquisition of Osisko for 50% of Canada’s largest operating gold mine, and the US$395 Million acquisition of Extorre Gold Mines Ltd. for Cerro Morro(now Yamana’s highest grade operating mine). Prior to Yamana, Mr. Vallis was with Barrick Gold for 15 years in multiple global jurisdictions and roles spanning from global Evaluations & Corporate Development, Capital Projects, Mine Engineering & operations, and global Continuous Improvement. Most notably, Mr. Vallis worked on the successful US$10.4 Billion acquisition of Placer Dome, a transformative deal for Barrick and one of Canada’s largest mining M&A transactions. Mr. Vallis holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree with Dalhousie University in Mine Engineering, a Master of Business Administration degree with the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and is a registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario.

Stephen Timms

Director

Mr. Timms is currently an IBM Canada executive who brings 25+ years of his broad-based functional expertise in operations, business transformation, change management, corporate strategy and finance to the Signature’s Board of Directors.  

He drives made-in-Canada innovation to IBM which helps accelerate social and economic growth in Canada through a proven model working cooperatively and collaboratively with industry, governments and academia.  These initiatives leverage transformational and emerging technology including high-performance computing, advanced data analytics, AI and machine learning, digital trust technologies such as Blockchain, and now Quantum Computing.   

Mr. Timms is a results-oriented problem solver who has a proven ability to successfully analyze an organization’s critical business requirements, lead change, implement best practices, and execute disciplined performance management systems to drive successful business outcomes. In his career with IBM Mr. Timms has participated in numerous executive, management and leadership development courses.

Lisa Davis

Lisa Davis brings to Signature’s board significant perspective from the industry as the Chief Executive Officer of Peartree Securities Inc., a boutique financing and advisory firm focused on the junior Canadian resource sector. Drawing on the in-depth knowledge of securities regulation gained in part while on secondment to the Ontario Securities Commission Lisa is also responsible for the legal and compliance aspects of the firm's business as well as for PearTree Financial Services Ltd., the originator and leading provider of flow through donation financing services in Canada. Prior to joining Peartree, Lisa was General Counsel for a specialized investment fund business with more than $3B in assets under administration. A graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School, Lisa was a partner at Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP (currently Dentons) where she specialized in corporate and securities law. Lisa has earned the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors and has served as a Director of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) as well as a member of the PDAC’s Executive Committee and co-chair of the Finance & Taxation Committee of the PDAC.

Mr. John Hayes M.Sc., MBA, P.Geo

John is a professional geologist with over 20 years of exploration, and many years of capital markets experience. John worked for ten years in mining equity research at BMO Capital Markets and at the time of his retirement in 2014 was a managing director covering global precious and base metal companies as they advanced projects from exploration to production. Most recently, Mr. Hayes served in senior roles at Pretium Resources and Osisko Mining. He is currently a Director and Chairman of Maritime Resources Corp. John graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Geology (1989) and a Master of Science in Geology (1997). He also holds an MBA from Dalhousie University (2003) and is a member (P. Geo.) of the Professional Engineers and Geoscientists Newfoundland and Labrador. 

Mr. Dan Denbow, CFA

Dan has spent over 28 years in the capital markets with his most recent experience associated with USAA Investment Management Company. As a portfolio manager for USAA Mr. Denbow was responsible for managing over US$4 billion in three strategies; a domestic dividend and global dividend strategy and the USAA Precious Metals and Minerals Fund. Dan and his team have received eight Lipper Fund awards, six Lipper Fund Achievement certificates, a TopGun Investment Mind award in 2018 from Brendan Wood International, and the USAA Precious Metals Fund was named the “Fund of the Decade” for the ten-year period ending 2009. The USAA Precious Metals and Minerals Fund focused on selection of gold mining securities with a relative value ranking adjusting for risk based on factors including asset quality, management quality, and balance sheet quality. Dan holds an MBA from Texas Christian University, Neeley School of Business and is a CFA charter holder.