Chris A. Dittmar
Director / Chief Executive Officer
Prior to his involvement with the Corporation, Mr. Dittmar served as CEO of Alliance Energy Corporation (“Alliance”), a privately held family corporation organized to acquire and develop vertically integrated energy assets. Alliance currently holds interests onshore Texas and Oklahoma and off shore Louisiana.
In 2006, Mr. Dittmar in his capacity as limited partner and financial advisor to East Cameron Partners, LP. completed the first ever Sharia-compliant securitized market financing of assets (“Sukuk”) based in the United States. The $165.7 million dollar Sukuk securitized Gulf of Mexico leasehold interests and reserves in a producing natural gas and condensate field 20 miles offshore the State of Louisiana. The offering was led by Merrill Lynch as sole book runner, structured by BSEC, a Lebanese based investment bank and rated by Standard & Poor’s. The Sukuk was structured so that Islamic investors effectively received a fixed rate of return while being considered owners of the underlying assets. The transaction attracted Islamic as well as several conventional investors in the United States and Europe.
Mr. Dittmar was the Chairman, President and CEO of Xavier Corporation from 1993-1997. Xavier was an independent exploration and production corporation principally engaged in the acquisition and development of natural resources in the Former Soviet Union. It entered into joint ventures and technical service agreements with Russian entities for the exclusive exploration, development, production, processing and marketing of oil and gas reserves in excess of two billion barrels. While with Xavier, Mr. Dittmar developed the corporate business plan and raised $100 million dollars of equity and debt financing for the Corporation. Mr. Dittmar also has extensive experience recruiting and managing senior management teams required to implement large-scale international operations.
Prior to 1993, Mr. Dittmar managed family oil and gas investments and has held previous positions as Assistant Controller for Occidental Chemical Company and Audit Manager for Occidental Petroleum Corporation as well as Senior Accountant at Aluminum Company of America.
Mr. Dittmar graduated from Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio with a Juris Doctor. Mr. Dittmar completed his undergraduate studies at Iowa State University graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance. He is an active member in the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators and the World Affairs Council of Houston.
Joseph Lessard
Chief Financial Officer
Most recently, Mr. Lessard served as Vice President, Americas for Globeleq, Inc. (“Globeleq”) where he led that Company’s business development activities in Latin America. He was one of three principals that conceived and successfully implemented the business plan that resulted in the formation of Globeleq in June 2002. In 2007, Globeleq successfully sold their Latin American portfolio; the proceeds of that sale, together with prior distributions, totalled more than three times Globeleq’s original investment.
Under his direction, Globeleq successfully entered the power markets in Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. Mr. Lessard was directly responsible for originating, negotiating and closing a green field development project and four merger and acquisition transactions representing over $300 million dollars. He also arranged several bond and bank financings totalling $200 million dollars. In August 2002, he successfully placed the largest single bond issuance to date in Peru and the first ever by a holding company. In 2004, he completed the first bond issued by a branch company in Bolivia.
In 1999, together with two other principals, Mr. Lessard formed Hart Energy International (“HEI”) to pursue a contrarian strategy of aggregating emerging market power assets. The principals of HEI accurately interpreted market trends that forecast a pending exodus by large energy companies from emerging markets and reasoned that high quality assets would be available at steep discounts. In line with their strategy, Mr. Lessard negotiated the exclusive right to buy Entergy’s Latin American portfolio, including energy positions in Peru, Chile and Argentina. The Entergy transaction was closed in 2002, paving the way for the launch and success of Globeleq as the vehicle for implementing the HEI strategy.
From 1994 to 1999, Mr. Lessard was Regional Managing Director of Coastal Power Company, where he managed regional business units in the United States’ Northeast region and Southeast Asia. As Regional Managing Director, Mr. Lessard had full profit-loss responsibility for the region, including business development, asset management and plant operations. In the United States’ Northeast, he managed three power plants and successfully acquired a fourth. In Southeast Asia, Mr. Lessard established offices in Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila and successfully secured power projects in Thailand and Indonesia. Prior to his role as Regional Managing Director, he negotiated commercial agreements for Coastal Power’s Central America and Southeast Asia operations.
Between 1987 and 1992, Mr. Lessard served as a nuclear-qualified officer onboard the U.S.S. Alabama, a trident-class nuclear submarine. During that time, he served as Reactor Controls Assistant, Damage Control Assistant and Quality Assurance Officer.
Mr. Lessard received his Masters in Business Administration degree from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. Mr. Lessard also completed his undergraduate studies at Texas A&M University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering.
Tom Cloutier
Investor Relations Director
Mr. Cloutier has responsibility for all investor, broker and stock market exchange relations worldwide for the Corporation. He has over 20 years of direct public market experience.
Mr. Cloutier began his career in 1988 as a MLB Investments Corp. stock broker trainee and progressed to a successful licensed stock broker with RAF Financial, Inc. before joining management where he developed and implemented an insurance and retirement planning sales division for corporate 401K clients. While at RAF Financial, he also provided investment banking services to private and public companies that included private placements, bridge financings, secondary offerings and initial public offerings. Mr. Cloutier then joined Global Financial Corporation and provided research, trading and investment banking services to the firm’s corporate clients.
During the period 1997 – 2005, Mr. Cloutier provided corporate development consultant services to several clients including Builders Supply Corp., View Systems, Inc. and Applied DNA Corporation. He assisted with the formation and capitalization of several companies, recruited management, acquired national and international licensing rights and helped implement successful marketing and sales programs. He planned and implemented several mergers and acquisitions, private placements and secondary financings. Mr. Cloutier also helped manage general public market relationships to include investment bankers, stock brokers, and individual and institutional investors.
Mr. Cloutier graduated from Rim of the World High School in Lake Arrowhead, California. He maintained Series 7 and 63 securities licenses and Life and Health insurance licenses while active as a stock broker. He is an active member of the Southern California Investors Association.