Dan Owiredu
CEO & Director (Pending Board Appointment)
Mr. Owiredu is an accomplished Mining Executive with over 35 years of experience in the mining sector in Ghana and other parts of Africa. He holds a BSc degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi and an MBA degree from Strathclyde Business School in Scotland, UK. Mr. Owiredu has made a significant contribution to mining in Ghana as a former President of the Chamber of Mines and in recognition of his various critical roles the University of Mines and Technology awarded him with an honorary doctorate in 2018. Prior to joining Golden Star in 2006, Mr. Owiredu was the Chief Operating Officer, West Africa and Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Africa, both for the newly merged entity of AngloGold Ashanti. He had also served as the Managing Director of the then Ashanti Goldfields, Bibiani Mine in Ghana, Siguiri Mine in Guinea and Obuasi Mine in Ghana. Mr. Owiredu joined Golden Star Resources Ltd. in September 2006 as Vice President, Operations and was subsequently appointed Executive Vice President, Operations and Chief Operating Officer in January 2013. He was appointed to the Board of Directors in November 2014. He was critical in the development of the Wassa underground mine and the revamping of the Prestea underground mine. Mr Owiredu was appointed President of Golden Star Resources and retired from executive management in December 2019. Mr. Owiredu served as the Executive Chairman of FGR Bogoso Prestea local board until June 2022 when he was appointed as the CEO of Blue Gold International.
Andrew Cavaghan
Executive Chairman & Director
Mr. Cavaghan is resident in Accra, Ghana, where he co-leads the Blue Gold Holdings Group as Executive Chairman. Mr. Cavaghan is also co-founder and Executive Director of the Blue International Holdings group, formed in 2012, which has raised and invested over $150m into energy and mining projects in sub–Saharan Africa. Prior to this Mr. Cavaghan co-founded investment group, Desert Lion Partners, in 2009 which originated multiple projects in Sub Saharan Africa in the mining, transportation, real estate and infrastructure sectors. Between 2002 and 2009 Mr. Cavaghan was a venture capital and private equity executive, latterly with Octopus Investment. During his time with Octopus funds under management grew from $30m to $1bn, Mr. Cavaghan was called to the bar in 2002 and is a member of Middle Temple, he has worked at City law firm Addleshaw Goddard, (formerly Theodore Goddard), and gained his undergraduate degree in Philosophy at University College London.
Mark Green
President and Director
Mr. Green co-leads the Blue Holdings Group as Executive Director and also co-founded and serves as Executive director of the Blue International Holdings Group which has raised over $150m to invest into energy and mining projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to this he co-founded desert lion partners in 2009 which led to the formation of Joule Africa where he served as President for the development of the $900m Bumbuna Phase II hydroelectric project in Sierra Leone. Mr Green’s first role in sub-Saharan Africa was as COO for ACTB micro-finance business which he helped lead from one member of staff and 100 loans to over 100 staff and 50k loans. Mr Green has also built an extensive residential and commercial UK property business in the UK from 2003 to 2008. Prior to that he was Head of Insurance for CPP and a consultant for Andersen Consulting working in the Strategy division. Mr Green holds a BA with honours in Theology from the University of Birmingham in the UK.
Phil Newall
Independent Non-Exec Director, Technical*
Mr. Newall has recently retired as Managing Director of Wardell Armstrong International following a career in the mining industry spanning more than 40 years. He has a first degree in Mining Geology and a PhD in Exploration Geochemistry. During this time, Phil has provided a broad range of consultancy services to minerals companies throughout the world, with emphasis in Central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. He has developed an extensive portfolio of exploration and mining-related contracts, from project management through to technical audits of a large variety of metalliferous and industrial mineral deposits, although particular specialisation lies in gold and base metals. Mr Newall brings a wealth of experience from across the industry and has been involved in some important IPO’s such as Glencore, Nordgold, IRC and London Mining. In addition, he has been instrumental in managing some major Feasibility studies, is very familiar with NI 43-101, JORC/CIM resource reporting, as well as undertaking numerous due diligences, fatal flaw and scoping studies. Phil also continues to be involved in Expert Witness work.
Tao Tan
Independent Non-Exec Director*
Mr. Tan has nearly 15 years of experience across finance, strategy and business transformation. Mr. Tan was previously Senior Vice President at Fanatics, President of Perception Capital Corp. IV, and Partner at Perception Capital Partners. Until 2020, Mr. Tan was an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company’s New York office. At McKinsey, Mr. Tan led teams across the firm’s transformation and private equity & principal investor practices, where he drove comprehensive performance transformation and turnaround programs for companies with revenues ranging from $200 million to $25 billion across multiple industries and continents. Most recently, Mr. Tan helped found, launch and lead McKinsey’s SPAC service line, and served in a leadership role in McKinsey’s COVID-19 client response team. Prior to McKinsey, Mr. Tan was a Senior Associate at Rose Tech Ventures, where he led the firm’s first-round investment in JUMP Bikes, which was subsequently sold to Uber in 2018. Prior to Rose Tech Ventures, Mr. Tan served in investment banking and capital markets roles at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers. Mr. Tan is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Atlantic Council of the United States, and of the Economic Club of New York. Mr. Tan received his B.A. and his M.B.A, both with honors, from Columbia University in the City of New York, where he was an Erwin Wolfson Scholar and a Toigo Foundation Fellow.
Candice Beaumont
Independent Non-Exec Director*
Ms. Beaumont has served since 2016 as Chairman of the Salsano Group, a Panama based family office and conglomerate invested in private equity. Since 2003 Ms. Beaumont has served as Chief Investment Officer of L Investments, a single-family office invested in public and private equity. Ms. Beaumont was a member of the Board of Directors of Clean Earth Acquisitions Corp. (Nasdaq: CLINU) that completed its initial public offering in February 2022 and completed its business combination with Alternus Energy Group in December 2023, as well as Israel Acquisitions Corp that completed its IPO in January 2023. Beginning in March 2021 Candice began to serve as Advisor to Athena Technology Acquisition Corp (NYSE: ATHN.U) and as Advisor of Springwater Situations Corp. (NASDAQ: SWSSU), a special purpose acquisition company formed to effectuate a merger or similar transaction with one or more businesses, which completed its initial public offering on August 25, 2021. She speaks at numerous family office and investment conferences globally, including the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Global Investor’s Forum, is a NYU Stern Family Office Council member serving on the Steering Committee, and is an Advisory Board member of the Family Office Association. From 2012 to 2014, Ms. Beaumont was a member of the Board of Directors of I2BF Venture Fund II, a Dubai Financial Services Authority regulated clean tech venture capital firm with offices in Dubai, New York and London. She started her career in Corporate Finance at Merrill Lynch in 1996 and worked as an investment banker at Lazard Frères from 1997 to 1999, during which time she executed over $20 billion of merger and acquisition advisory assignments. Ms. Beaumont also worked in private equity at Argonaut Capital from 1999 to 2001. Ms. Beaumont obtained a Bachelor in Business Administration from the University of Miami, graduating first in her class with a major of International Finance & Marketing.
David Edward
Independent Non-Exec Director*
Mr. Edward spent his entire working career in the Lloyd’s insurance market where he established himself as a leading underwriter in the fine art and specie market. He has global experience of providing insurance solutions for the precious metals industry including the mining, refining, transportation and jewellery manufacture of gold where he could commit up to $500m of liability. His reputation for excellent risk assessment and financial management delivering highly profitable results led to his appointment as a director of Brockbank Syndicate Management Ltd where he also took management responsibility for other classes of business. In 2001 he was a founding partner and director of a start-up company in the Lloyd’s market, Ascot Underwriting Limited. David was instrumental in building an underwriting team across eight classes of business that quickly established itself as a market leader and underwriting more than $1bn of premium income. The success of the business led to the sale of the company in 2008 to AIG. Since that time David has been active in investing in early-stage companies whilst also fulfilling non-executive director and advisory roles including Blue International Holdings since its establishment. He has also undertaken expert witness assignments.
