Principle Energy team

Brian Myerson, Non-Executive Chairman, is also Executive Chairman and a co-founder (2004) of the Principle Capital group. A native South African, Brian has pioneered activist investing in the United Kingdom, and has extensive experience investing in Continental Europe and Africa. He retains strong links to his home country.

Through the Principle Capital group, Brian led the creation of South African Property Opportunities plc (SAPRO) and PME African Infrastructure Opportunities plc (PMEAIO), with combined equity fundraisings of $310 million. Brian is also Chairman of Proteus Property Partners, the investment manager of SAPRO, and PME Infrastructure Managers, the investment manager of PMEAIO.

Brian previously held board positions at several listed UK companies, including Liberty plc, Greycoat plc, and Marylebone Warwick Balfour Group plc, the latter of which he chaired. He was also a non-executive director of Sage group, a JSE-listed South African life assurance and financial services business. Brian holds an LLB and Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

Tom Soto, Non-Executive Director, is Managing Partner and Co-founder of Craton Equity Partners, an innovative clean technology private equity firm focused on reducing carbon and responding to climate change.

Tom has advised local and national figures from the White House to the City of Los Angeles. He recently was Team Co-lead of the Executive Office of the President's Transition Team focused on the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) for President Barack Obama. In December 2009, Tom participated in President Obama's White House Summit on Jobs, and presented his position on how clean technology could contribute to the country's economic recovery.

Tom was also President Clinton's appointee to the Border Environmental Cooperation Commission which oversaw and insured that the environmental component of the North American Free Trade Agreement was adhered to, and that the financial resources committed to these concerns were available through the multi-billion dollar North American Development Bank (NADBank). He was recently selected by Hispanic Business Magazine as one of 2010's One Hundred Most Influential Hispanics in the United States.

Tom is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles.

Stephen Read, Director, is a financial controller responsible for the administration of Principle Capital's alternative investment funds including South African Property Opportunities plc, PME African Infrastructure Opportunities plc and Principle Energy

Stephen's prior experience includes the position of finance director at the international headquarters of Iomega Corporation, a US multinational in the High Tech industry and nine years in a number of treasury and accounting roles in the UK Oil & Gas sector for Chevron and Statoil.

Stephen graduated from The Robert Gordon University (Aberdeen) in 1991 and qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant.

Grant Wareham, Chief Executive Officer, has over 25 years of experience in large scale project management in Africa.
 
Grant  has successfully delivered International Management Systems compliance and certification in Environmental Management, Occupational Health and Safety, and Food Safety and Security and Business Process Quality Management for multinational Agri businesses in a variety of supply chain operations. 

Gavin Scott, Chief Operating Officer and Project Manager, has thirty years' experience in major capital expansion projects in the petro-chemical (Fluor), pulp and paper (Mondi Group) and sugar (Tongaat-Hulett) industries.

His responsibilities include the factory development as well as project controls management for the overall project. Gavin holds a diploma in Mechanical Engineering, a diploma in Project Management through Pretoria University and is a registered Professional Construction Project Manager (Pr CPM).

Paul Zorner, Ph.D., Chief Technology Consultant, has held numerous leadership positions in technical business, operations, and business management roles with several Fortune 500 and start-up agriculture and biotechnology firms, including: Chief Scientist/Senior Scientist - Global Biotechnology Platform at Dow Chemical Company, Senior Director of Business Development at Diversa Corporation, and Vice President of Product Development at Mycogen Corporation

Paul is an Adjunct Professor of Horticulture at North Carolina State University and a current Director of several companies focused on the production of renewable energy. He is also a member of advisory boards that inform business and energy policy recommendations for state governments (California, USA, and Queensland, Australia).

Paul is a member of the Environmental Entrepreneurs (NRDC), which serves to educate US Federal and State officials on renewable energy and global warming policy.

Paul holds a Ph.D. in botany and plant pathology, Colorado State University (1980), and a Bachelor's degree from Lewis and Clark College in biology and secondary education.