The Team
Vilhjalmur Thor Vilhjalmsson
Chief Executive Officer, Chairman & Director
Vilhjalmur holds a diploma in Business Administration from the University of Bifrost, Iceland. In his professional career he has been active in the mining and civil construction industry along with investments and development projects. Over the last 23 years he has mainly been operating in Scandinavia, Greenland, UK, and Africa. His roles have been in Senior Management and Director level ranging from green-field exploration projects to mining services and mine build up.
Steve O’Carroll
Chief Operating Officer & Director
After 30+ years with the Lloyds Banking Group, Steve left the Bank to concentrate on property development and investment, and has successfully raised finance for and managed multiple development projects. He has both led high-performance delivery teams and managed numerous investor & supplier relationships. He has substantial international investment relationships with significant funds available for mergers and acquisitions, with his main property focus on planning gain opportunities as well as new build developments. In the last two years as Chief Executive of Staminier, he has overseen the company’s diversified acquisition strategy focused on property and planning gain, the acquisition of established companies with proven profitability and cash flow, the purchase of stakes in scalable fast growing companies and the establishment of a capital markets division.
Miles Nagamatsu
CFO
Miles is a Chartered Professional Accountant, Chartered Accountant with over 30 years of financial experience in the areas of accounting, finance, management, lending, restructurings and turnarounds. He holds a Bachelors of Commerce degree from McMaster University. Since 1993, Miles has acted as part-time Chief Financial Officer of public and private companies primarily in the mineral exploration and investment management sectors. Miles is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Cartier Iron Corporation, Eloro Resources Ltd., Essex Oil Ltd., United Hunter Oil & Gas Corp., Forsys Metals Corp. and Laurion Mineral Exploration Inc. Mr. Nagamatsu brings to the Company significant merchant banking experience. From 2004 to 2007, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Lawrence & Company Inc., a private investment company that invested in a portfolio of public companies and venture capital investments for its own account and managed investment funds with $800 million of assets under management, including 2 labour-sponsored venture capital corporations with assets of $35 million.
Richard Beresford
Director
His practice has always been diverse, covering mergers and acquisitions, banking finance, restructuring, equity capital markets (primarily, but not exclusively, AIM and the Official List) and early stage ventures and private equity. Throughout his career of over 25 years in the City, Richard has shown a willingness to get involved in the business side of things, whether it’s helping build a business case for start-ups, introducing investors, finding targets for acquisitions, bringing together management teams or structuring public company transactions. That interest helps Richard marry a keen understanding of the “technical” aspects of the law with a clear understanding of clients’ aims. Recently he has been at the forefront of the growth of the use of Standard Listings and has won acceptance from the UKLA for a number of novel deal structures.
Peter D. Wanner
Director and member of the Audit Committee
He is the Managing Director of IG Aviation Tax Services Inc. providing accounting services to the aviation industry. He is a director and CEO of First National Energy Corp, a public company on the OTC in the USA and has been a director and officer of a number of public companies. Peter received his Certified General Accountant designation in 1981 and after working in public accounting he became VP & Controller of Worldways Canada – then Canada’s 3rd largest airline. He has 25 years experience in accounting and financial consulting, and has worked with companies in Canada, the United States, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
Sir Robert Neill
Director
Sir Bob Neill studied law at the London School of Economics which led to a successful career as a barrister specialising in criminal law. Bob was elected as MP for Bromley and Chislehurst in June 2006. Following Bob's election to Parliament he was appointed to the Justice Select Committee, which scrutinises the work of the new Ministry of Justice, the Courts and legal system, the work of the government law officers as well as devolution issues. After only a year in Parliament Bob was appointed Shadow London Minister, joining the Shadow Communities & Local Government team. In 2008 he was made Shadow Local Government Minister and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party and in January 2009, Bob also took over the shadow planning brief. From May 2010 to September 2012, Bob was appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Communities and Local Government. In this role, he had responsibilities for the Fire Service, Thames Gateway, the Olympics, local government and planning. Bob was knighted in the 2020 New Year Honours for political service.