In the world of investments, what distinguishes one firm from another are the people, the focus and the commitment. The First Merit Group brings years of real-world, successful business experience to the table. Our expertise spans strategic partnering and alliances, business development, operations, marketing, finance and administration. FMG is committed to helping new companies build great teams, devise winning products and marketing strategies, run smooth operations, and create successful business models.
Chris Wright founded the First Merit Group after over two decades of successful corporate ventures. He has a distinguished history in the oil and gas business, notably as the founder and former president and chairman of the board of Velvet Exploration Ltd., a great Canadian junior oil and gas success which was built to over 10,000 boed in just five years, primarily through exploration with a 75%-plus drilling success rate. In 1999, Velvet received the Globe & Mail Report on Business Award as “the most successful public company in Canada” and in 2001 was sold to El Paso Corp. of Houston, Texas for $432,000,000. More recently, he co-founded and was the chairman of the board of Porto Energy Corp.(TSXV: PEC), where he raised over $100 Million in 2010 and early 2011 for Porto’s IPO on the TSX Venture Exchange. Porto is now slated to commence development on its 1.5 million acre oil and gas concessions in Portugal, which have some 37.4 billion BOE in 2P contingent resources slated for development.
Chris’ resource sector and asset management experience has ranged around the world, in both North and South America, as well as in Central and Southeast Asia and Europe. Including Porto (Europe) and Velvet (Canada), he has bought and either sold or taken public: the Tiguino Block in Ecuador; the Pincher Creek Gas Field in southern Alberta; the Big Muddy Field in Wyoming; and the Lagunillas and Colon Blocks in Colombia.
Barry Lee specializes primarily in the energy sector, and has extensive experience in senior management in both start-up companies and in oil and gas mergers and acquisitions. He has been involved in several successful domestic and international oil and gas projects, including Velvet Exploration, and has provided strategic planning, corporate governance, and M&A expertise for the oil and gas and in related sectors over the past eighteen years.
As the founder and former president and CEO of Banks Energy Inc., Barry co-structured its merger with Arapahoe Energy Corporation to become Canadian Phoenix Resources Corp. (TSXV: CXP), a consolidation platform for junior E&P companies in western Canada, where he was Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors. He co-founded, and is the former Chief Operating Officer of Choice Resources Corp., which was built to over 1600 boed prior to its merger with first Buffalo Resources Corp. and subsequently Twin Butte Energy (TSX: TBE). He is also co-founder and the former president and CEO of Watch Resources Ltd., which was acquired in 2007 by BlackPearl Resources (TSX: PXX), a significant consolidator of heavy oil assets in eastern Alberta & Saskatchewan. He is a co-founder and currently a member of the board of directors of Velocity Minerals Ltd. (TSX: VLC), a co-founder and the former president and CEO of Porto Energy Corp., which recently completed a $100 Million IPO on the TSXV, and the current Chairman and CFO of both El Condor Minerals Inc. (TSXV: LCO), active in the mining industry in Mexico and Quebec, and Athabasca Uranium Inc. (TSXV: UAX), exploring for uranium in northern Saskatchewan.
Based in Seattle, Phil Jennings has thirty years of experience as an investment banker and entrepreneur, and has been associated with First Merit Group since 2003, primarily in its oil and gas ventures. He is a co-founder and a managing director of First Forge Capital LLC, a privately-held quant fund that is currently outperforming both the Yale & Harvard endowment funds. Among the other companies Phil co-founded are Dow Jones Teleres, the first national online real estate company, and Soufun.com, the largest Internet real estate company in the world, based in Beijing. He specializes in deal structure, turnarounds, and the financing of mergers and acquisitions in the resource and technology sectors. A former United States Marine Corps Captain and Air America pilot, Phil is also an award-winning author and film producer.
Todd Hanas is a corporate finance and communications specialist in the resource sector, and has a fifteen year history working the public markets. As the founder and principal of Sky Blue Relations Inc., he has provided financial and marketing services for numerous public companies, including Banks Energy Inc., Choice Resources Corp. and Hawthorne Gold Corp. (TSXV: HGC). Todd is also the co-founder and former president and CEO of BOE Capital Corp., now Athabasca Uranium Inc. (TSXV: UAX).