Peak Minerals has an experienced management team and board of directors and employs seasoned engineering firms, advisors, and consultants.
Senior Management
Josh Parrill
Interim Chief Executive Officer and Board Member
Josh Parrill has over 20 years of experience in mining and mining finance. Prior to joining the company, he spent over 14 years at Resource Capital Funds (RCF), starting as an analyst and working his way to Partner and Team Lead. While at RCF, Mr. Parrill helped establish multiple stand-alone investment strategies.
Mr. Parrill brings deep private capital and junior mining experience to Peak Minerals as well as significant LP and fundraising experience. He has served on the board of multiple mining companies, and is currently an advisory board member of the Colorado Cleantech Industries Association.
Mr. Parrill earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, and a Master of Science in Mineral Economics from the Colorado School of Mines.
Blake Measom
Chief Financial Officer and Board Member
Blake Measom has over 25 years of experience in mining and minerals finance. Prior to joining the company, he served as Chief Financial Officer for Barrick Gold of North America. At Barrick, he directed the accounting, finance, tax, compliance, IT, and supply chain functions for all North American operations.
Prior to joining Barrick, Mr. Measom served as Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Kennecott Energy Company, a subsidiary of the Rio Tinto Group.
Mr. Measom began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. He has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Master of Accountancy from Brigham Young University.
Dean Pekeski
Chief Technical Officer and Board Member
Dean Pekeski has over 25 years of experience in mineral exploration and project development. From 1996 to 2008, Mr. Pekeski was an exploration geologist and project manager with Rio Tinto Exploration where he explored for base metal and diamond deposits across Canada, Southern Africa, and India. He led the Rio Tinto exploration team that discovered and evaluated the diamondiferous Bunder kimberlites. After leaving Rio, Mr. Pekeski joined Western Potash Corporation where, as Executive Vice President, he successfully managed the Milestone Potash Project in Saskatchewan from discovery, through pre-feasibility, feasibility, environmental permitting, and project financing.
Mr. Pekeski holds a degree in Earth Sciences from the University of Western Ontario. He is a registered Professional Geologist and a Qualified Person in the field of potash geology as defined by NI 43-101 Standards, and is also an active member of the Solution Mining Research Institute.
Board of Directors
Owen Hegarty
Non-Executive Chairman
Owen Hegarty has more than 40 years experience in the global mining industry including 25 years with the Rio Tinto group where he was Managing Director of Rio Tinto Asia and Rio Tinto’s Australian copper and gold business from 1989 to 1994.
Prior to that, Mr. Hegarty was the founder and Managing Director of Oxiana Limited where he led the growth of Oxiana from a junior explorer to an A$6 billion Asia Pacific base and precious metals producer. Mr. Hegarty was also Vice Chairman of ASX listed Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), one of the world’s largest iron ore companies, Executive Vice Chairman of Hong Kong listed resources companies, G Resources and Chairman of the Tigers Realm Minerals Group.
Mr. Hegarty is a Fellow and Former Director of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD). He is also an advisor on mining and resources generally to a number of government and industry associations.
In 2019, Mr. Hegarty was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the AusIMM. The Honorary Fellowship recognises “exceptional achievement, service or contribution to the minerals sector” and is conferred on senior and influential professionals who have performed “notable, active and sustained service to the AusIMM or made a major contribution to the minerals sector.”
In 2021 Mr. Hegarty was awarded, as part of the Queens Birthday Honours list, the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for his service to the mining and minerals sector.
Jason Chang
Board Member
Jason Chang has over 30 years’ experience in investment management and advisory with a focus on the resources and financial services sector. Prior to EMR, Mr. Chang was a partner of KPMG in Australia for over 13 years, based in Melbourne, where he was Partner in Charge of KPMG Australia’s Asia Practice and a member of KPMG Australia’s leadership team. In these roles, Mr. Chang was the head of KPMG Australia’s businesses across all service lines (transactions, mergers and acquisitions, advisory, tax and audit) for Australia and Asia inbound and outbound investments.
Mr. Chang was a Board Director of the Australia China Business Council (ACBC) (2008–2015) and President of the Victorian Branch of the Australia China Business Council (2008–2015). He is currently a member of the Advisory Council for Asialink Business.
Mr. Chang graduated with a Masters of Law, Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Economics (majoring in Accounting) from Monash University, Australia, and is admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia. He is a Fellow of the Financial Institute of Australia (FINSIA), a Member of the Hong Kong Securities Institute (HKSI) and the Responsible Officer for the EMR regulated entities. Jason completed his schooling in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Josh Douglas
Board Member
Josh Douglas has more than 12 years of investment management experience and currently serves as global Fund Controller at EMR Capital. Based in EMR’s Cayman Islands office, he is also an EMR Director where Mr. Douglas is responsible for all fund related matters including finance and treasury management, fundraising, and investor relations support.
Prior to joining EMR Capital, Mr. Douglas was a Manager in KPMG’s CFO Advisory division in Melbourne where he spent 7 years working alongside CFO’s and finance teams of major private and public companies to enhance finance functions. Josh’s experience at KPMG included secondments in the private equity, telecommunications, and banking industries as well as providing transactional due diligence support on multiple major transactions.
Mr. Douglas is qualified with a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Management from Deakin University in Melbourne, and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.