Michael Cooney, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Michael Cooney was appointed Chairman of NEMI in March 2009 after successfully leading a contested proxy contest prior to the 2009 Annual General Meeting. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer in May 2010. He is a private investor who previously worked for 15 years as an independent market maker on both the Pacific Options Exchange in San Francisco and the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
Mr. Cooney obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1984 and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics from Kalamazoo College, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1983. He is a resident of Larkspur, California.
Todd Hooper, Director
Todd Hooper joined the NEMI board in March 2009. He is a partner in the Private Equity Services practice of management consulting firm Kurt Salmon Associates (KSA).
Mr. Hooper has 25 years of experience consulting to a range of consumer and industrial markets. He has assessed dozens of proposed mergers, developed business unit strategies, directed merger integrations, and helped design new growth platforms. Industries of experience include upstream oil and gas, consumer products, retail and financial services.
Prior to the launch of KSA's Private Equity Services practice, Mr. Hooper was the national practice leader for KSA's National Strategic Services. Mr. Hooper joined KSA in 2000 as part of its acquisition of Swander Pace & Company where he was a Managing Director and CFO.
Mr. Hooper obtained a Master of Business Administration in Economics and Marketing from the University of Chicago School of Business and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Notre Dame. He is a resident of Greenbrae, California.
Alex Shaw, Director
Alex Shaw joined the NEMI Board in March 2011. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a principle of Shaw Shaw & Shaw, CPA based in Jacksonville Florida where he currently resides.
Mr. Shaw obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and in Political Science from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill in 1992, and a Bachelor in Accounting from Florida State University in 1996. He received his CPA license in 1997.
Jay Sujir, Director
Jay Sujir joined the NEMI Board in April 2012. Mr. Sujir is a corporate, securities and natural resources lawyer who has over twenty-five years of experience in advising and assisting public companies in Canada. He has been a partner with Anfield, Sujir Kennedy & Durno and its predecessor firms since 1991 and is currently the senior partner of that firm. During the past three years Mr. Sujir has acted as director or officer of client mining companies which have completed in excess of $800 million in equity financings. Mr. Sujir is a member of the Law Society of British Columbia, the Canadian Bar Association, and the British Columbia Advisory Committee of the TSX Venture Exchange. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Joel Leonard, Director
Joel Leonard joined the NEMI Board in April 2012. He is
the managing member of Cornerstone Trading LLC, a professional trading firm in Chicago,
Illinois. In his 30 years of professional trading experience, Mr. Leonard
worked on the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and the
Chicago Board Options Exchange. He co-managed the Advent Fund, a hedge
fund specializing in risk arbitrage from 1997-2002. Mr. Leonard obtained
his Bachelors of Arts from University of Wisconsin-Madison in Economics in
1981. He lives in Deerfield, Illinois.
Joe Helmer, Director
Joe Helmer joined the NEMI Board in April 2012. He is the President of Caldwell Securities, Inc., a full service broker-dealer and investment advisory firm based in Sausalito California and is a CFA Charterholder. Prior to that from 1997 to 2004, he was an options market maker on the Pacific Exchange, now NYSE Arca, Inc. He lives in Kentfield, California.
Andrew Williams, Chief Financial Officer
Andrew Williams joined NEMI as Chief Financial Officer in January 2011. He is a chartered accountant with more than 25 years of experience involving publicly traded and closely held companies. He lives in British Columbia.