CEO
Luke Leslie is the co-Founder and CEO of Key Carbon, bringing experience focused on investing, streaming and commodities.
Luke is a founding partner and manager of Private Equity Club L.P., which manages two funds with over €700 million in assets and invests in private equity and co-investments. He is also a member of the LP Advisory Committee for BEXFUND IV.
Luke was formerly Chief Financial Officer and Head of M&A at Shanta Gold Limited, an East African gold producer. Luke has been a Non-Executive Director of Nova Royalty Corp since April 2021 and was a Non-Executive Director at Shanta Gold Limited from 2012 to 2017.
Prior to this he was a member of UBS Investment Bank’s Corporate Finance team and was a management consultant with Accenture where he co-authored a patent incorporating carbon into the Forest Factory Valuation Model.
Luke has lived and worked in China, Hong Kong, Outer Mongolia, Myanmar, and Tanzania. Luke is an alumnus of Edinburgh University and Harvard Business School.
Chief Financial Officer
Matt Gormley is Key Carbon’s Chief Financial Officer and brings 12 years’ experience in financial and senior operational roles in the natural resources space.
Matt began his career within Grant Thornton’s London Audit practice before joining Shanta Gold as Group Financial Controller, where he was instrumental in a sustained period of operational, financial, and corporate successes.
Matt graduated from the University of Warwick with a BSc (hons) in Physics and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
President
Audinga Besuspare is President of Key Carbon and brings 15 years of experience across private equity investing and operational leadership.
Prior to joining Key Carbon, Audinga served as Executive-in-Residence and Co-CEO of a Key Carbon portfolio company, a European soil carbon project developer, where she partnered with management to professionalise the organisation across strategy, operations and finance.
Previously, Audinga was Senior Director at PSP Investments, one of Canada’s largest pension investment managers, based in London. She co-led the European Direct Private Equity team, served on the Private Equity Investment Committee and was involved in more than CAD 2 billion of investments across sectors and geographies. She served on the boards of several companies, including Antelliq, Galderma, Zoopla/Uswitch and Azelis.
Earlier in her career, Audinga worked at Permira, a global private equity firm, based in London, and began her career at Ernst & Young.
Audinga holds an MBA with distinction from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Principal, Carbon Markets
James Gourlay manages the commercialisation of our investment portfolio, supports the identification and execution of new investments, and contributes to the monitoring of key market trends.
He previously worked at the carbon market platform Abatable, where he supported many of the voluntary carbon market’s leading investors to identify investment opportunities and understand broader market trends.
Prior to this, James helped to manage an investment advisory firm that worked with family offices and UHNW individuals to identify investment opportunities centred on innovative technologies and impactful investment themes, with a particular focus on the energy transition and the materials and technologies that underpin it.
James graduated from Loughborough University with a BA in International Relations and from King’s College London with an MA in the Political Economy of the Middle East.
Director
Brett Heath has over a decade of royalty and streaming experience, building two leading public companies in precious metals and base metals sectors creating over $1 billion in value for shareholders.
Brett is currently the President and CEO of NYSE-listed Metalla Royalty (NYSE: MTA). He founded Metalla Royalty in 2016 and completed an industry-leading 27 transactions acquiring a portfolio of 70 precious metal royalty and streaming assets over the following 5 years. Mr. Heath is also the Non-Executive Chairman of TSXV listed Nova Royalty (TSXV: NOVR). He co-founded Nova Royalty in 2018 acquiring 20 royalty copper and nickel royalty assets on some of the largest mines in the world being advanced by majors. Mr. Heath has an extensive background in corporate finance, structured finance, and investment management.
Director
Eric Zurrin has worked in global commodities for over two decades. He is a former advisor to major forest products companies including Norske Skog and Stora Enso. He also has 10 years’ experience in investment banking, having worked with multinational banks including BMO Capital Markets and UBS Investment Bank.
Since 2017, Eric has held the role of CEO of AIM listed Shanta Gold with assets in East Africa. Eric has worked and lived in North America, the UK, Asia and Africa and held senior positions in advisory, private equity and operational roles. Eric is a Canadian national and is a graduate of Harvard Business School.
Director
Denis Silva has 20+ years global experience in corporate securities law with a focus on royalties and streaming. He is a corporate and securities partner at DLA Piper’s Vancouver office with expertise in corporate and commercial law, corporate finance, as well as mergers and acquisitions. He has particular experience advising clients in mining, technology, and financial sectors on a full range of business law matters, including mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financings, corporate reorganisations, exchange listings, securities regulatory requirements, options and joint ventures and corporate governance.
Prior to joining DLA Piper, Denis was a partner at an international law firm and was senior legal counsel with the British Columbia Securities Commission. While at the BCSC, he furthered his legislative and policy expertise on corporate finance and registration matters.
Denis holds a BA from University of British Columbia, MPA from Queen’s University and LLB from University of Windsor.