Colin Padget
President, CEO & Director
Colin Padget
President, CEO & Director
Colin Padget is a seasoned mining executive and geologist with over a decade of experience leading exploration programs and advancing gold projects across North and South America. Mr. Padget brings a unique combination of technical and financial acumen, holding a Bachelors of Business Administration alongside a First-Class Honours Bachelors and a Masters degree in geology.
Prior to establishing Founders Metals, Colin held the role of Senior Geologist at Thesis Gold, where he played an integral role in delineating high-grade mineralized zones.
Mr. Padget’s leadership is defined by an execution focused approach – with a proven track record of guiding exploration projects through key technical and corporate achievements – from early stage targeting to drill definition and market facing value creation.
Sam Yik
CFO
Sam Yik
CFO
Sam Yik is a senior financial executive with over 25 years of experience in public company leadership across the global resource, petrochemical, technology and transportation sectors. Mr. Yik has held executive roles in companies ranging from early-stage ventures to multi-billion dollar enterprises – including over a decade with Methanex Corporation, a global leader in chemical manufacturing.
Mr. Yik brings more than a decade of CFO experience managing publicly listed companies on the TSX, TSX-V, and NYSE-MKT, with a strong track record in financial strategy, capital markets, M&A, and operation integration. Mr. Yik holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia and earned his Chartered Accountant designation while articling at KPMG.
Katie MacKenzie
Vice President, Corporate Development
Katie MacKenzie
Vice President, Corporate Development
Katie MacKenzie is a corporate development and capital markets professional with a strong technical foundation in geology and a proven ability to position exploration-stage companies for growth. Ms. MacKenzie holds a Bachelors of Science in Geology from the University of Regina and has supported the advancement of multiple gold projects across North America.
Ms. MacKenzie combines hands-on exploration experience with capital markets expertise to drive strategic financing, elevate market visibility, and engage investors across a broad range of platforms.
Ms. MacKenzie’s expertise lies in investor relations, stakeholder communications, and aligning technical project expertise with corporate growth strategies that advance project development.
Pascal Voegeli
Vice President, Exploration
Pascal Voegeli
Vice President, Exploration
Pascal Voegeli is a professional geoscientist with extensive field and technical experience across orogenic, epithermal, and porphyry gold systems throughout North and South America. Mr. Voegeli holds a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Geology, and has successfully led exploration programs from early-stage grassroots discoveries to advanced delineation campaigns.
Prior to joining Founders Metals, Mr. Voegeli worked in both consulting and government roles, including with Natural Resources Canada. Mr. Voegeli’s expertise lies in integrating geoscience disciplines to identify and evaluate mineral systems with a tier-1 potential.
Colin Padget
President, CEO & Director
Colin Padget
President, CEO & Director
Colin Padget is a seasoned mining executive and geologist with over a decade of experience leading exploration programs and advancing gold projects across North and South America. Mr. Padget brings a unique combination of technical and financial acumen, holding a Bachelors of Business Administration alongside a First-Class Honours Bachelors and a Masters degree in geology.
Prior to establishing Founders Metals, Colin held the role of Senior Geologist at Thesis Gold, where he played an integral role in delineating high-grade mineralized zones.
Mr. Padget’s leadership is defined by an execution focused approach – with a proven track record of guiding exploration projects through key technical and corporate achievements – from early stage targeting to drill definition and market facing value creation.
Barry Macdonald
Director
Barry Macdonald
Director
Barry MacDonald is a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia and a retired PwC Partner. Mr. MacDonald has over 40 years of experience advising on international tax, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and strategic governance.
Mr. MacDonald has chaired and served on numerous public and private boards, including as Chair of the CPA BC Board, governing over 35,000 members. Currently, Mr. MacDonald serves as Board Chair of Simon Fraser University’s UniverCity Trust and Truvera Trust & Mortgage Corporation and serves on the BC Executive of the Institute of Corporate Directors.
Mr. MacDonald contributes decades of corporate leadership, financial expertise, and strategic governance experience, providing oversight and stability that advances corporate growth strategy.
Kevin Vienneau
Director
Kevin Vienneau
Director
Kevin Vienneau is a professional mining engineer with over 25 years of experience spanning exploration, development, permitting and operations. Mr. Vienneau has worked across numerous gold and base metal assets, including Noranda’s renowned Brunswick #12 mine, and has held senior roles with Stratabound Minerals and Castle Resources.
Mr. Vienneau specializes in project advancement, stakeholder negotiations, land and mineral acquisition as well as acquisitions through bankruptcy. Mr. Vienneau’s technical and permitting knowledge plays a key role in derisking and advancing complex exploration and pre-resource stage projects.
Chris Taylor
Director
Chris Taylor
Director
Chris Taylor is a decorated geologist and entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in mineral exploration and public company leadership. As the Founder, President and CEO of Great Bear Resources, he led the discovery of the Dixie Gold Project in Red Lake, Ontario – culminating in its C$1.8 billion in acquisition by Kinross Gold in 2022.
Mr. Taylor is the recipient of numerous professional awards and recognitions including PDAC’s 2023 Bill Dennis Award winner, Northern Miner’s 2021 Mining Person of the Year, and Kitco’s Mining CEO of the Year. Mr. Taylor brings visionary leadership, discovery expertise, and a track record of building high-value companies.
Nick Stajduhar
Director
Nick Stajduhar
Director
Nick is an accomplished financial industry professional with more than 15 years of experience in all aspects of sales and operations. He is a highly knowledgeable market professional with a proven track record in the capital markets.
Carlos Bertoni
Technical Advisor
Carlos Bertoni
Technical Advisor
Carlos Bertoni is a professional geoscientist with over 40 years of experience in mineral exploration and development across Canada, South America, and Africa. He has held senior technical and leadership roles with Golden Star, Aura Minerals, Highland Copper, and Reunion Gold, advancing projects in a wide range of geological environments.
At Golden Star, he led exploration across the Guiana Shield, including at the Omai and Rosebel gold mines. He later co-managed development of the Tulawaka gold mine in Tanzania and oversaw feasibility work at Brazil’s Serrote copper project for Aura Minerals. As Exploration Manager for Highland Copper, he directed resource definition at the Copperwood and White Pine copper projects in Michigan.
Mr. Bertoni played a key role at Reunion Gold, leading pre-feasibility work at the Matthews Ridge manganese project and, as CEO, overseeing the discovery of the Oko West gold deposit in 2021–2022. He holds an M.Sc. in mineral exploration from Queen’s University and is a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists