Board of Directors

Michael Hibberd

Chairman, Independent Director

Mr. Hibberd is currently Chairman of the Board of Canacol and brings over 40 years of industry and senior leadership experience to the Corporation.  For over 27 years, Mr. Hibberd has been Chairman and ‎CEO ‎of MJH Services Inc., ‎a corporate ‎finance advisory ‎firm. He is ‎also currently Vice Chairman of ‎Sunshine ‎Oilsands Ltd., Chairman of PetroFrontier ‎Corp. and ‎‎serves as a board member of Pan ‎Orient Energy Corp. ‎Formerly, he ‎‎was ‎Chairman of Heritage Oil Plc, Heritage ‎Oil ‎Corporation and Greenfields Petroleum ‎Corporation; ‎and former director of ‎Montana Exploration ‎Corp., Avalite ‎Inc., ‎Challenger Energy Corp., Deer ‎Creek ‎Energy, ‎‎Iteration Energy Ltd., Rally Energy ‎Corp., Sagres ‎Energy, ‎Skope Energy Inc. and Zapata ‎Energy ‎Corporation‎‎.

Ariel Merenstein

Independent Director

Mr. Merenstein brings significant experience in the global energy industry and the financial sector to Canacol. Mr. Merenstein is the Managing Partner and Portfolio ‎‎‎Manager of Fourth Sail ‎Capital, LP (“Fourth Sail”). Prior to ‎‎founding Fourth ‎Sail ‎in 2019, he spent eleven ‎years at ‎Prince Street ‎Capital ‎Management, a ‎global emerging ‎and frontier ‎‎markets fund, ‎where he was a Partner on the ‎research ‎team ‎and the ‎Portfolio ‎Manager of the Prince ‎Street Latin ‎America ‎Long/Short fund. ‎Prior to joining ‎‎Prince ‎Street, Mr. ‎Merenstein worked at ‎Lehman Brothers ‎‎and Bear Stearns. He is a magna ‎cum laude ‎graduate ‎of ‎‎the New York University Stern School of ‎Business. ‎

Charle Gamba

President, CEO & Director

Mr. Gamba is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Canacol, a role ‎he has held since he founded the Corporation in 2008. Mr. Gamba has 29 years of ‎international oil and gas experience, and has previously worked for Imperial Oil, ‎Canadian Occidental Oil and Gas, Occidental Petroleum, and Alberta Energy ‎Company in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, West Africa, Canada, and Latin ‎America. He has served on the board of directors of several publicly listed and ‎private oil and gas companies where he held positions on the ESG, audit, ‎reserves, HSE and compensation committees. Mr. Gamba currently sits on the ‎board of the Asociacion Colombiana de Petroleo and Naturgas, two industry ‎groups that form upstream, midstream and downstream policy for the oil and gas ‎industry in Colombia. Mr. Gamba holds a B.Sc., M.Sc. ‎and PhD in ‎Geology‎‎.

David Winter

Independent Director

Dr. ‎‎Winter was a co-founder of Canacol in ‎‎‎2008 and ‎brings over 38 years of ‎international ‎industry experience to the Corporation, having held a ‎‎variety of ‎‎technical, management ‎and ‎leadership roles in Latin ‎America, the Middle ‎East, ‎‎‎‎South East ‎Asia and the UK North Sea. Dr. Winter is currently the Chief Executive ‎Officer and Director of ‎‎each ‎of Horizon Petroleum ‎Ltd. and ‎Miramar ‎‎‎Hydrocarbons ‎Ltd. ‎Previously, Dr. ‎Winter ‎was the ‎founder, Chief ‎‎Executive Officer and Director ‎of ‎‎Excelsior Energy ‎‎Limited, an oil ‎sands focused ‎exploration ‎company. Dr. ‎‎Winter ‎holds a ‎‎B.Sc. in ‎Geology ‎‎from the University of ‎London, an M.Sc. ‎‎in ‎Structural ‎Geology ‎‎from Imperial College, University of ‎‎London ‎and PhD ‎in Structural ‎‎Geology from ‎‎‎Edinburgh University‎‎‎.

Francisco Diaz

Independent Director

Mr. Diaz has close to 30 years of experience as an international executive and ‎general manager. Mr. Diaz is currently the Managing Partner at Evolvere Capital ‎SAS, a private equity firm ‎that ‎‎manages various ‎‎portfolio ‎companies in Colombia, Latin America, and ‎‎‎Spain. He is also ‎the Chairman of the Board and ‎Chair of ‎the Audit Committee ‎of Systemgroup, a financial ‎‎‎‎services company which operates ‎in seven Latin ‎‎‎American countries. Mr. Diaz previously occupied the position of ‎President and Chief Executive Officer for Organización Corona SA, and various ‎executive positions for Monsanto Company including President of the Global ‎Food Ingredients Division, Vice President of Global Strategy, and Vice President ‎and General Manager for Latin America. Mr. Diaz currently leads a foundation that ‎provides nutrition to more than 45,000 disadvantaged children in Colombia. Mr. ‎Diaz ‎‎received an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from ‎Northeastern University, a graduate degree from the J.L Kellog Graduate School of ‎Management at Northwestern University and a graduate degree from Hult ‎International Business School, Inc‎.‎‎‎‎

Gustavo Gattass

Independent Director

After 20 years in the banking industry covering the oil and gas and power industries, Mr. Gattass is a board member of several energy and power companies. Having started working in the equity research department of Banco Icatu, Mr. Gattass later moved to UBS and BTG Pactual, where he was ranked a top analyst in energy and power for many years and where he ran the bank’s LatAm research and development department from 2009 onwards. Upon leaving BTG Pacutal in 2015, Mr. Gattass joined the boards of Petrobras and its fuel distribution subsidiary BR Distribuidora, and later joined a number of other boards in the energy, power and water utility space. Mr. Gattass holds a degree in Economics from PUC-Rio.

Gonzalo Fernández-Tinoco

Independent Director

Mr. Fernández-Tinoco brings over 30 years of senior leadership experience in the ‎telecommunication industry with positions in Corporacion Digitel and BellSouth. ‎Mr. Fernández-Tinoco is currently a director of the following organizations: ‎C.A. Fábrica Nacional de Vidrio, a glass ‎manufacturer, Corporacion Digitel, a telecom company, Maritime ‎‎Contractors de Venezuela, an ‎oil ‎drilling company, DP ‎‎Delta ‎Servicios, an oil services company, Petrodelta, a ‎joint ‎‎venture, ‎Delta Finance and Escuela Campo Alegre. ‎Mr. Fernández-Tinoco ‎‎received a degree in ‎law from Universidad ‎Católica ‎Andrés ‎Bello and an EMBA ‎from IESA.

Valentina Garbarini

Independent Director

Ms. Garbarini has more than 10 years of experience as director of the Family Office of the Cisneros Blavia family, leading the finance and legal affairs departments internationally and focused on the areas of energy, telecommunications and social responsibility. She is also a board member of Corporacion Digitel, a telecommunications company in Venezuela. She was a board member of the Universidad Iberoamericana in Bogotá, ambassador of the Sino PLPE Federation in Macao, of Fundación Unidos en Red and of GEN Global. Valentina graduated cum laude from Bentley University, in Boston, Massachusetts, in Business Management, Marketing and International Studies.

Committees of the Board of Directors

Audit Committee

  • Michael Hibberd
  • Francisco Diaz
  • Gonzalo Fernández-Tinoco
  • Gustavo Gattass
  • Ariel Merenstein

Compensation Committee

  • David Winter
  • Michael Hibberd
  • Ariel Merenstein

Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee

  • Gonzalo Fernández-Tinoco
  • Michael Hibberd
  • Francisco Diaz
  • Gustavo Gattass

Reserves Committee

  • David Winter
  • Charle Gamba
  • Gustavo Gattass
  • Ariel Merenstein

ESG Committee

  • David Winter
  • Francisco Diaz
  • Michael Hibberd