Board of Directors & Committees

Jaime Ardila

Mr. Ardila has been a member of our Board of directors since June 2019 and has been Chair of the Board since July 30, 2020. Mr. Ardila founded The Hawksbill Group in 2016, which provides business advisory services, including strategy, operations, public relations, communications and investment advice. Prior to that, he held several positions at General Motors Company in the U.S., Europe and South America in a career spanning 30 years. He also worked at the Planning Department and the Ministry of Industry and Trade for the government of Colombia from 1981 to 1984 and the investment bank Rothschild from 1996 to 1998. At General Motors, Mr. Ardila served CFO of General Motors Chile; President and Managing Director of General Motors Ecuador; President of General Motors Colombia; President of General Motors Argentina; CFO for Latin America, Africa and the Middle East; President for Brazil and Mercosur; and President of General Motors South America from 2010-2016. He is currently a member of the board of directors of Accenture and Chairman of Goldman Sachs, BDC. Mr. Ardila earned his master’s degree in Economics at the London School of Economics in 1981 and his bachelor’s degree in Economics at the University of Bogota in 1977.

Daniella Dimitrov

Ms. Dimitrov has been a member of our Board of directors since January 2018. Ms. Dimitrov has over 25 years of leadership experience in building, leading and operating businesses in mining and financial services, including as CEO, COO and CFO. Ms. Dimitrov’s previous roles include President and CEO, Interim CEO, CFO of multi mine gold/copper producers, partner at a merchant bank with a focus on natural resources, Executive Vice Chair of an iron ore developer through its acquisition following a hostile takeover bid, COO of a Canadian national wealth management and capital markets firm, and various corporate development roles in mining and financial services. Ms. Dimitrov has also been a director of various companies in the mining, oil, gas and chemicals industries and has served as a member and chair of various board committees, including audit, technical, health and safety, compensation and governance. Ms. Dimitrov is currently also a director of Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund. Ms. Dimitrov has received the NACD Directorship Certification and the ESG Global Competent Boards Designation and is a candidate for the Cyber Risk Oversight Certificate from the CERT Division of the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. She has a Global EMBA from Kellogg School of Management and Schulich School of Business and a law degree. She was chosen as one of the top 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining in 2016.

Diego Hernandez

Mr. Hernández has been a member of our Board of directors since 2016. He was a member of the board of directors of Nexa Brazil until 2018. Mr. Hernández has 50 years of experience in the mining industry. He is currently Corporate Director of BAL Group in Mexico. He served as President of the Sociedad Nacional de Minería in Chile (2016 to 2022) and CEO of Antofagasta Minerals from August 2012, and CEO of Antofagasta plc from September 2014 to April 2016. He was CEO of CODELCO in 2010/2012 and President of Base Metals in BHP Billiton and Chairman of Minera Escondida during 2004/2010. He served as Executive Director, Non-Ferrous Metals in Vale in 2001/2004, CEO of Compañía Minera Doña Inés de Collahuasi in 1996/2001 and has held other senior positions in Anglo American and Rio Tinto. Mr. Hernandez received a civil mining engineer degree from the University of Chile and from the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris. In 2010, he received the Ankh award granted by the Copper Club of New York, and in 2013 the Chilean Institute of Engineers awarded him the “Gold Medal” for his distinguished career and important contribution to the development of engineering in Chile.

Eduardo Borges de Andrade Filho

Mr. Andrade has been a member of our Board of directors since 2016. He was a member of the board of directors of Nexa Brazil until 2018 and has been member of the board of directors of CBA since 2017. Mr. Andrade has over 20 years of experience working with large industrial conglomerates and international consulting firms on relevant issues related to strategy, corporate development, corporate finance, governance and organization. He is founder and managing director of Otinga Investimentos, a private equity firm focusing on mid-size companies in Brazil. Between 2011 and 2014, he was corporate planning officer at VSA and served as board member of four other companies of the Votorantim Group. From 2010 to 2011, he was vice president for corporate development at Usiminas, a steel company, where he was responsible for mining and capital goods businesses, as well as strategy, business development and M&A. Prior to that, between 1997 to 2010, he was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm, where he took various leadership roles such as the Basic Materials Practice and the Knowledge Committee in Latin America. He started his professional career as an entrepreneur and engineer in his home state of Minas Gerais. Mr. Andrade received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Fundação Mineira de Educação e Cultura in 1991 and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago in 1995.

Edward Ruiz

Mr. Ruiz has been a member of our Board of directors since January 2018. Mr. Ruiz brings over 51 years of experience in public and private accounting. Mr. Ruiz currently serves on the audit committee of several publicly traded companies in Brazil, including Iochpe-Maxion SA and Arezzo & Co. He is a Certified Public Accountant since 1972 and has been responsible for audits of companies in the mining and energy sectors in Brazil and the United States. Mr. Ruiz retired from Deloitte in 2012, where he was employed since 1997 and most recently served as an audit partner and member of Deloitte’s IFRS Accounting Standards specialist group. As head of the Capital Markets group for Deloitte, Mr. Ruiz advised companies on financial and regulatory reporting matters related to initial public offerings and secondary offerings in the Brazilian, United States and European capital markets. Prior to Deloitte, he held executive positions in internal audit at JP Morgan and PepsiCo in the United States. He started his career in public accounting with Arthur Young in 1971. Mr. Ruiz obtained his bachelor’s degree from Pace University, New York City in 1971.

Gianfranco Castagnola

Mr. Castagnola has been a member of our Board of directors since June 2020. Mr. Castagnola is partner and CEO of Apoyo Consultoría, a leading firm specialized in economic, business and financial advisory services in Peru. He also serves as chairman of the board of directors of its subsidiary, AC Capitales SAFI, one of the largest Peruvian investment fund managers. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Peruvian Central Bank from 1996 to 2001 and was president of the Universidad del Pacífico board of trustees. He is chairman of the board of directors of Scotiabank Peru S.A., and member of the board of directors of Saga Falabella, the Austral Group and IKSA. Mr. Castagnola’s previous roles include serving as member of the board of directors of Nexa Peru, Nexa Resources Atacocha S.A.A., Lima Airport Partners, Quimica Suiza, Cementos Pacasmayo, Camposol Holding and Redesur. Mr. Castagnola earned his master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University and his bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Universidad del Pacífico.

Hilmar Rode

Mr. Rode has been a member of our Board of directors since June 2023. Mr. Rode has over 30 years of experience in the global mining, materials, chemicals, and industrial gases industries. He began his career in process development and research engineering before joining Anglo American, where he worked for 12 years in leadership positions in its industrial diamonds, base metals and paper divisions in South Africa, United Kingdom and Austria. He joined Glencore in 2007 as CEO of its zinc division in Bolivia, returning in 2019 to the copper division to work on operational strategy, technical services, projects and capital management. Between 2015 and 2019, Mr. Rode was president of BHP’s Minera Escondida Ltda. in Chile and then Chief Executive Officer of zinc producer Nyrstar. Since September 2020, Mr. Rode joined Sibelco as group CEO. Mr. Rode holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, a Master’s in Environmental Engineering and a Doctorate in Chemical Engineering from State University, Buffalo, New York, and a Certificate in the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School.

Jane Sadowsky

Ms. Sadowsky has been a member of our Board of directors since January 2018. Ms. Sadowsky has a broad and diverse range of finance and deal-related expertise and also has sector expertise in power and utilities and the related fields of commodities, renewables, power technology, infrastructure, and energy. She has a depth of knowledge and experience in mergers and acquisitions, public and private debt and equity, corporate restructurings and cross border transactions. Ms. Sadowsky retired from Evercore Partners, after more than 22 years as an investment banker. Prior to Evercore Partners, she worked in Citigroup’s Investment Bank and began her investment-banking career at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Currently, Ms. Sadowsky serves on the board, the audit and the compensation committees of Allied Gold, Inc. (former Yamana Gold), and chairs Allied Gold’s nomination and governance committee. She also serves as a senior advisor with responsibility for diversity and inclusion at Moelis &. Company, a U.S. publicly traded company. Ms. Sadowsky also serves on the board and Remuneration Committee of Scientific Games, a PE-backed company based in the US and the NY Chapter of NACD. Ms. Sadowsky earned her MBA from the Wharton School in 1989 and her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983. Ms. Sadowsky has received the NACD Directorship Certification. She is a National Association of Corporate Directors Governance fellow and a frequent speaker at board governance conferences throughout the United States.

João Henrique Batista de Souza Schmidt

Mr. Schmidt has been a member of our Board of directors since 2016. He has held the position of executive officer for Corporate Development at VSA, and in 2020 he assumed the position of CEO. He is a board member of Auren, a position he has held since 2017. He served as Chairman of the board of directors of CESP – Companhia Energética de São Paulo in part of 2019. He also served as member of the board of directors of Citrosuco S.A. from 2014 to 2019 and Nexa Brazil from 2016 to 2018. Mr. Schmidt was previously a member of the board of directors of Fibria Celulose S.A. from 2014 to 2019. Prior to joining VSA, Mr. Schmidt had 15 years of experience in the financial sector. Mr. Schmidt was a Managing Director of Goldman Sachs do Brasil Banco Múltiplo S.A., where he worked from April 2010 to August 2014, and prior to that worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs in different capacities. Mr. Schmidt received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Fundação Getulio Vargas in 2001.

Luís Ermírio de Moraes

Mr. Moraes has been a member of our Board of directors since 2016, and was the Chair of the Board until July 30, 2020. He was a member and the Chairman of the board of directors of Nexa Brazil until 2018. Mr. Moraes has over 35 years of experience working in mining and metallurgical operations. He is a member of the board of directors of VSA, which is the Portfolio Manager Board of the Votorantim Group. Mr. Moraes is Chairman of the board of directors of CBA, the largest integrated aluminum producer in Brazil. He is a board member of Hejoassu, which is the ownership board of Votorantim. Mr. Moraes previous roles include director of VSA since 2000. Mr. Moraes also worked as an engineer in various processes in the areas of alumina refinery, smelter and aluminum smelting, pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical mineral processing of nickel laterites, developing novel projects for the separation and refining of cobalt. In the early 2000s, Mr. Moraes was the shareholder responsible for the creation and development of a new Votorantim business area with investments in IT and biotechnology. Mr. Moraes received a bachelor’s degree in mineral and chemistry engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, in the state of Colorado, United States, in 1982.