Board of Directors
| Miljenko Horvat Chairman of the Board | ||
| Mr. Horvat has been a member of the Board of Directors since July 11, 2006, and was appointed as Chairman on October 22, 2007. Mr. Horvat has over twenty years of experience in the investment banking and private investing industry. Mr. Horvat currently is the President of Horvat Capital Corp., a Vancouver-based investment firm where his duties include sourcing and managing leverage buyout transactions throughout Canada on behalf of The Riverside Company, a private equity firm with over $1.5 billion under management. Previously, Mr. Horvat was the President and Chief Executive Officer of NewspaperDirect, Inc., a New York / Vancouver print-on-demand internet newspaper. Mr. Horvat's prior experience also includes managing director at Citicorp, Russia Direct Equity, and at Citibank, Russia, where he led the creation of Citibank's full service commercial banking operations in Russia. Mr. Horvat is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Maurice Young Center for Entrepreneurship at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia. He earned an M.A. in International Relations at Yale University and a B.A. in Political Science from Zagreb University. | ||
| Kenneth C. Barker CEO & Director | ||
| Mr. Barker has been our Chief Executive Officer since August 24, 2006 and a member of our Board of Directors since February 6, 2006. Mr. Barker has over twenty-three years of apparel experience, including merchandising, sourcing and full profit and loss responsibility, public market experience and corporate governance. Mr. Barker is co-president of The Meriwether Group, a Portland-based business acceleration and investment company formed in 2004. He brings strategic, profitable, global apparel business experience to the management team. Mr. Barker's primary role will be setting the strategic vision for NAT, and creating operational and marketing platforms that will maximize the CRAiLAR® opportunity in the global market place. Prior to The Meriwether Group, Mr. Barker was head of apparel for adidas® North America, where he was responsible for the entire adidas US apparel business. adidas AG is listed on the Deutsche Börse stock exchange in Frankfurt and is part of the DAX-30 index, which includes only the largest German companies listed. Mr. Barker also served as business unit manager of apparel for adidas Canada. Before joining adidas, he was general merchandise manager at Levi Strauss and Co. Canada, where he oversaw both Levi's® and Dockers® brands. Born in South Africa, Mr. Barker began his career in the apparel business by forming his own athletic apparel company in 1983, which he sold in 1986. Prior to immigrating to Canada in 1998, he held senior positions with the BRM Group and SA Clothing Industries, negotiating and stewarding strategic global apparel licensing agreements that delivered significant value to their shareholders. | ||
| Jason Finnis Co-Founder, COO & Director | ||
| Mr. Finnis has been a member of the Board of Directors since 1998 and our Chief Operating Officer since December 7, 2005. Jason Finnis founded Hemptown® in 1998 and has been an entrepreneur in the hemp industry since 1994. Mr. Finnis is the Chief Operating Officer and is currently involved in CRAiLAR® development and commercialization initiatives and continues to oversee operations of the Company's HTnaturals apparel division. Mr. Finnis has established strong ties with the Federal Government of Canada and was instrumental in removing the Canadian tariff on all imported hemp fabric. Mr. Finnis has built an international market for products produced under the Hemptown® and HTnaturals brand names, and speaks at many North American Universities and conferences on a wide variety of hemp industry related topics. Jason attended the University of Victoria in the Faculty of Fine Arts, and possesses broad experience in apparel manufacturing, marketing and sales. | ||
| Larisa Harrison Co-Founder, CAO & Director | ||
| Ms. Harrison has been a member of the Board of Directors and our Chief Administration Officer and Secretary/Treasurer since December 15, 2000. As CAO, Ms. Harrison oversees all of the Company's activities with respect to HTnaturals including supply chain management, planning and logistics, and human resources. In her role as Corporate Secretary, she works with management and the board on corporate governance and compliance matters. As Treasurer, she is responsible for the preparation of public disclosure documents and acts as liaison with the Company's transfer agent on share issuances. Prior to co-founding NAT, Ms. Harrison was employed by one of Canada's largest providers of private label fashion to North American department and chain stores, involved with product development, sales support and production management for a number of clients. Ms. Harrison possesses extensive experience in the apparel industry, network administration, and graphic design. Ms. Harrison is a graduate of the University of Victoria with a Fine Arts degree. | ||
| Guy Prevost CFO & Director | ||
| Guy Prevost joined the Board of Directors in November 2005 and been the CFO of Naturally Advanced Technologies since May 2005. Mr. Prevost has over fifteen years of public and private market financial experience and held the position of controller for a number of other public and private companies. Mr. Prevost offers significant operational expertise in the areas of cost controls, procurement, and the implementation of financial-management systems. Guy is a member of the Certified General Accountants Association of British Columbia and Canada. | ||
| Robert Edmunds Director | ||
| Mr. Edmunds has been a member of the Board of Directors since December 15, 2000 and previously our Chief Financial Officer until his resignation effective April 27, 2005. Mr. Edmunds received his Chartered Accountant designation in 1992, and was proprietor of a public practice from 1992 through 1998. Since 1998, Mr. Edmunds has been providing business strategy, financial planning and accounting services for various clients in the entertainment and E-commerce industries. Mr. Edmunds co-coordinated NETeller PLC's successful listing on the AIM exchange in London in 2004, a company in which he was a founding investor and senior manager. | ||
| Peter Moore Director | ||
| Peter Moore has been a member of the Board of Directors since July 11, 2006 and on our Advisory Board since October 2004. Peter Moore is a top branding and design expert in the apparel industry. He has over twenty years of footwear and apparel experience, including design and development, involving Nike, Adidas and other prominent brands. His roles have included Creative Director at Nike (Air Jordan, Nike Air); Chief Executive Officer, Adidas North America; and Worldwide Creative Director for adidas AG. Mr. Moore was one of two individuals responsible for creation of the Air Jordan concept during the mid-1980's. He and a colleague founded Sports Inc, a sports marketing company, in Portland, Oregon in 1987, which was eventually acquired by adidas AG in 1992. Today Peter runs his own design and strategic branding consultancy, based in Portland. | ||
| Jeremy K. Jones Director | ||
| Jeremy K. Jones has been a member of the Board of Directors since August 6, 2009 and on our Advisory Board since March 2009. Mr. Jones was Vice President of Koch Genesis, the venture arm of Koch Industries, the largest private company in the United States from 2007 through 2009. At Koch he was responsible for deal sourcing, diligence and structuring in areas such as renewable fuels, biopolymers, medical textiles and advanced fibers for Koch's operating businesses INVISTA, Georgia-Pacific and Flint Hills Resources. Prior to Koch, Jones was in leadership and corporate officer roles in Fortune 500 companies such as Polaroid, Motorola and Cabot Microelectronics, where he built several businesses in optical and electronic materials, as well as in start-ups such as Crosslink, a St. Louis company commercializing conductive polymer materials. | ||