About Us

Dmitry Kushnir

CFA
Vice President, Investor Relations

Dmitry Kushnir is the Vice President, Investor Relations of Star Royalties. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst with over 20 years of progressively senior experience across investor relations, capital markets and business strategy. Prior to joining Star Royalties, he was with Agnico Eagle Mines for over 12 years in the roles of Director of Business Strategy and Director of Investor Relations. In these capacities, he was responsible for fostering alignment and collaboration among diverse business units through development of Agnico Eagle’s corporate strategic plan and assessing the fit of multiple corporate development opportunities. Mr. Kushnir is a polished communicator and presenter, with a passion of transforming complex concepts into understandable, presentable messaging to multiple audiences, including investors, sell-side analysts and business unit leaders. Prior to his time with Agnico Eagle, Mr. Kushnir held roles in investor relations at Sherritt International and equity research at RBC Capital Markets. He currently serves on the Ontario Executive Chapter of the Canadian Investor Relations Institute (CIRI). Mr. Kushnir holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from York University, and is a CFA charterholder.

Kenneth Ngo

BBA, CPA, CA
Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary

Kenneth Ngo is the Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary of Star Royalties. He has over 20 years of progressive finance experience across several publicly traded companies, ranging from financial reporting, financial planning and analysis, equity administration, treasury and tax. Mr. Ngo was most recently consulting at Franco-Nevada in a senior finance role, where he was responsible for financial reporting and accounting research. Prior to Franco-Nevada, he consulted for Torex Gold in a controllership function. Before that, Mr. Ngo spent two years at a start-up company as Chief Financial Officer. His previous mining finance experience includes Director of Financial Reporting at Golden Star Resources from 2013 to 2018, as well as Senior Manager of Financial Reporting at Lundin Mining from 2009 to 2013. He received his Chartered Accountant designation while working for Deloitte. Mr. Ngo holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Simon Fraser University and is a Chartered Professional Accountant in Canada and in the United States.

Kevin MacLean

P.Eng., CFA
Chief Investment Officer

Kevin MacLean is the Chief Investment Officer of Star Royalties. He has over 30 years of experience specializing in precious metals and mining investments. He was the senior portfolio manager heading the resource investment team at Sentry Investments until 2017, with peak assets under management of approximately $2-billion. Mr. MacLean received 13 Lipper awards over multiple time periods for best risk-adjusted returns in the gold mining sector and was the recipient of seven Brendan Wood International Top Gun awards for recognition of being a leading mind in the gold mining sector. Mr. MacLean is a Professional Engineer, holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (nuclear engineering) from the University of Toronto, and is a CFA charterholder.

Belinda Labatte

MBA, CFA, ICD.D
Independent Director

Belinda Labatte is a Director of Star Royalties. She has extensive experience in global IR and capital markets, transaction negotiations, and implementing corporate responsibility, risk and crisis management strategies within the mining sector. Ms. Labatte is currently Chief Executive Officer and Director of Lomiko Metals Inc. She was previously Chief Development Officer of Mandalay Resources and formerly served as Director of Caldas Gold and of Rambler Metals & Mining. She founded The Capital Lab Inc. in 2005 and has also served as a Director of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada since 2015. In 2014, Ms. Labatte was awarded the Professional of the Year Award from the Canadian Investor Relations Institute. She has been a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and has held the ICD.D designation since June 2018. Ms. Labatte holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto and is a CFA charterholder.

Alex Pernin

MSc, P.Geo.
Chief Executive Officer and Director

Alex Pernin is the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Star Royalties. He was previously responsible for managing capital allocation and corporate development at Barrick Gold where he oversaw all major internal, joint-venture and M&A opportunities. He was involved in the US$6 billion Randgold Resources acquisition, the largest gold sector acquisition in a decade, as well as the US$5 billion Barrick Gold – Newmont Mining Nevada Joint Venture. Prior to Barrick Gold, Mr. Pernin was in equity research at Canaccord Genuity where he covered junior and mid-capitalization precious metals producers as well as royalty and streaming companies. Before that, he was at Freeport-McMoRan and Northern Superior Resources in mining operations and greenfields exploration roles, respectively. Mr. Pernin is a Registered Professional Geologist in the province of Ontario and holds an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Geology (gold medallist) and a Master of Science degree in Economic Geology, both from the University of Toronto.

Tony Lesiak

BSc, MBA, MAG
Executive Chairman

Tony Lesiak is the Executive Chairman and a Director of Star Royalties. He was formerly Senior Advisor, Investment Banking at Canaccord Genuity where he focused on the mining royalty and streaming space. He previously held the position of Managing Director and Global Head of Mining Research at Canaccord Genuity and was responsible for coverage of the Canadian large capitalization precious metal equities. Prior to rejoining Canaccord Genuity in September 2013, he was Managing Director and Senior Mining Analyst at Macquarie Capital Markets. Mr. Lesiak was a Principal and Senior Mining Analyst at Genuity Capital Markets from 2007 to 2010 and previously held senior positions in mining equity research at UBS (Toronto) and HSBC (New York and Toronto). Mr. Lesiak was a research analyst in the metals and mining sector for over 20 years. Mr. Lesiak earned a B.Sc. in Geology and an MBA from the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management and holds an International MBA specializing in Economics from Johannes Kepler University in Austria.

Jay Layman

BSME, MBA, ICD.D
Independent Director

Jay Layman is a Director of Star Royalties. He is also currently Director, President and Chief Operating Officer of Seabridge Gold. Under this role, Mr. Layman has been responsible for designing and managing the technical programs required to advance Seabridge Gold's two main assets – KSM and Courageous Lake. Most recently, he was Vice President Solutions and Innovation for Newmont Mining where he was responsible for managing Global Technical Services and launching a Global Innovation Department. Functions reporting to him included Mining Engineering, Metallurgy and Process, Geostatistics and Reserves, Economic Geology, Project Engineering, Renewable Energy and Global Exploration, Technology and Solutions. During his employment at Newmont, he was responsible for managing numerous Feasibility Studies and his career includes experience in Business Development, Operations, Finance and B2B Supply Chain connectivity. In his wide-ranging career, Mr. Layman has lived in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Indonesia and Australia and has additional work experience in Russia, Singapore, China and Peru. He has worked in both underground and open pit operations containing gold, copper, silver, lead and zinc metals. Mr. Layman holds Bachelor's Degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Finance from Washington State University and an MBA from Eastern Washington University.

Alex Pernin

MSc, P.Geo.
Chief Executive Officer and Director

Alex Pernin is the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Star Royalties. He was previously responsible for managing capital allocation and corporate development at Barrick Gold where he oversaw all major internal, joint-venture and M&A opportunities. He was involved in the US$6 billion Randgold Resources acquisition, the largest gold sector acquisition in a decade, as well as the US$5 billion Barrick Gold – Newmont Mining Nevada Joint Venture. Prior to Barrick Gold, Mr. Pernin was in equity research at Canaccord Genuity where he covered junior and mid-capitalization precious metals producers as well as royalty and streaming companies. Before that, he was at Freeport-McMoRan and Northern Superior Resources in mining operations and greenfields exploration roles, respectively. Mr. Pernin is a Registered Professional Geologist in the province of Ontario and holds an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Geology (gold medallist) and a Master of Science degree in Economic Geology, both from the University of Toronto.

Tony Lesiak

BSc, MBA, MAG
Executive Chairman

Tony Lesiak is the Executive Chairman and a Director of Star Royalties. He was formerly Senior Advisor, Investment Banking at Canaccord Genuity where he focused on the mining royalty and streaming space. He previously held the position of Managing Director and Global Head of Mining Research at Canaccord Genuity and was responsible for coverage of the Canadian large capitalization precious metal equities. Prior to rejoining Canaccord Genuity in September 2013, he was Managing Director and Senior Mining Analyst at Macquarie Capital Markets. Mr. Lesiak was a Principal and Senior Mining Analyst at Genuity Capital Markets from 2007 to 2010 and previously held senior positions in mining equity research at UBS (Toronto) and HSBC (New York and Toronto). Mr. Lesiak was a research analyst in the metals and mining sector for over 20 years. Mr. Lesiak earned a B.Sc. in Geology and an MBA from the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management and holds an International MBA specializing in Economics from Johannes Kepler University in Austria.