Management Profile

Executive Management

Jack W. Schanck
President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Schanck is a well known and respected industry leader with over 35 years of experience in the US, Canadian and international oil and natural gas industries, as a geologist and manager.

During the first 23 years of his career, Mr. Schanck was with Unocal and held positions of Vice President Worldwide Exploration; Group Vice President International Exploration and Production, a business with a capital budget of nearly $1 billion; and, for three years, was President of Unocal Canada. Post-Unocal, Mr. Schanck was President and Chief Executive Officer of both private and publicly held exploration and production companies including Samson Investment Company (“Samson”) for five and a half years from 1999 to 2005. Under his purview, Samson was based in the US with offices in Canada, Venezuela and
Russia. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Schanck was the Managing Partner of Tecton Energy (“Tecton”), following the merger of SouthView Energy and Tecton. Prior to joining Tecton, Mr. Schanck was Chief Executive Officer of SouthView Energy, an independent oil and natural gas investment vehicle funded by Jefferies
Capital Partners and Quantum Energy Partners.

Mr. Schanck takes pride in building high-performing teams. Mr. Schanck will bring to Sonde an exemplary performance record and a reputation of achievement and success in Canada, the United States and internationally.

Mr. Schanck is a Director of Penn West Energy Trust and, for the past eight years, has maintained a residence in Canmore, Alberta. Mr. Schanck has both Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Geology.

William Dirks
Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Dirks brings with him over 31 years of E&P leadership experience, with an expertise in the North American onshore basins of the US and Canada. His recent background includes roles as Managing Partner of Tecton Energy, LLC, a privately-owned E&P company he co-founded, as well as President of Samson Canada Ltd. and Vice President of Business Development for Samson Resources. Mr. Dirks worked for the Royal Dutch / Shell Group of companies in a variety of roles, including President and Chief Executive Officer of Shell Technology Ventures Inc. (STV), Division Manager of Shell’s Onshore U.S. Exploration Division, District Manager of the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Division, and Manager and Budget Coordinator of Shell Oil Co. E&P Finance. He served as a Director of the Shell International E&P company.

Mr. Dirks has a long-term focus on unconventional resources and the US / Canadian Rocky Mountains, and led or participated in the development of unconventional resource plays at Tecton, Samson and Shell including tight gas sands and gas shales in Colorado, Texas, Wyoming, Alberta and British Columbia, the oil shales of Colorado and Utah, Antrim gas shales in Michigan, and coalbed methane in Wyoming and Alberta. He has substantial fundraising and startup experience, including Shell Technology Ventures, Enventure LLC and Tecton.

Mr. Dirks received a BS degree in Geology (1979) and an MS in Civil Engineering (1981) from Iowa State University.

Kurt Nelson, CPA
Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Nelson brings with him over 38 years’ experience in finance.  From June 2008 to present, Mr. Nelson worked in a private upstream petroleum finance practice. Prior thereto, from November 2001 to May 2008, he was Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer for Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (“Harvest”) a public oil and gas company and from  November 2001, he served as Vice President and Controller. From September 2000 until November 2001, Mr. Nelson was Manager, Operations Analysis for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. Prior to his time with Anadarko, Mr. Nelson spent 19 years with The Louisiana Land and Exploration Company and its successor Burlington Resources, Inc., holding various positions, including Manager, Business Development. Mr. Nelson holds a B.B.A. degree in Business Administration from the University of Houston and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Operations Management

Toufic Nassif
President Sonde North Africa

Toufic Nassif is the President of Sonde North Africa and a member of Sonde’s senior management team. Mr. Nassif is responsible for the overall management of all Sonde’s activities related to the Joint Oil Block Offshore Tunisia and Libya.

Mr. Nassif brings with him more than 33 years in the energy business with comprehensive experience in business development and commercial activities in North Africa and the Middle East. He also brings extensive experience in petroleum operations management, proven large project coordination and leadership skills, strategic planning, negotiations, and overall project evaluation skills.

Most recently Mr. Nassif held the position of VP and Commercial Director for BP Libya where he lead the negotiation and managed the implementation of the landmark exploration deal that was signed with the Libyan NOC in 2007.

Mr. Nassif held the office of the president of Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN) in 2004-2005. He is a Member of the Faculty of the AIPN Negotiation Workshop, a Member of Faculty of the International Energy law, Contracts and Negotiations Course and a Member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of World Energy Law & Business.

David Cassidy
Land Manager

Mr. Cassidy has 28 years of industry experience as a petroleum landman. Starting with major industry players, Petro-Canada and Mobil Canada, then in a select group of small companies. Mr. Cassidy has developed a reputation as a fair and honest negotiator. Mr. Cassidy has managed lands throughout the Western Canadian sedimentary basin, offshore North and Eastcoast of Canada and Trinidad. He has worked with Sonde’s Drumheller assets for the past 12 years.

Mr.Cassidy graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1984 with a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Petroleum Land Management.

Mr. Ed Chau
Exploration Manager

Mr. Chau has 30 years of exploration experience. He is a professional geophysicist and applied many novel geophysical methods in exploration and fields development for companies such as Chevron, Amerada, Rio Alto Exploration and Wiser Oil. He was Chief Geophysicist for both Seagull Energy and Wiser Oil.

Mr. Chau graduated with an H. BSc in geophysics and computer mathematics in 1982, and is member with APEGGA.

John Krug, P. Eng
Manager, Facilities and Production Optimization

Mr. Krug has over 15 years of experience in production and operations. He has worked both oil and gas properties in both Alberta and British Columbia, for Petro-Canada Oil and Gas, Suncor, Samson Canada Ltd, Pioneer Natural Resources, Sword Energy Inc and Crew Energy Inc specializing in production optimization, completions and operations. Mr. Krug has also worked offshore for Petro-Canada Oil and Gas as a well test engineer for the Ben Nevis/Hebron field. Mr. Krug is a member of APEGGA.

Garry Mann, M.Sc., P.Biol.
General Manager – Health, Safety & Environment

Mr. Mann has over 35 years of experience in management of health, safety, environment and corporate social responsibility issues in the Canadian and international upstream oil and gas sector. In his current role at Sonde, he is focused on development of a sustainable HSE culture across the company’s operations. He held progressively more senior HSE management roles during his 19 year career with Nexen Inc. and upon his retirement in 2010, he was General Manager, HSE in the Corporate HSE & Social Responsibility department. Prior to joining Nexen, Mr. Mann was employed by Imperial Oil Ltd. for 15 years. During this period, he occupied various environmental management positions and gained experience in the heavy oil and oil sands, coal and minerals business areas. Throughout his career he has taken leadership roles in various sustainability initiatives via industry associations such as the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA), the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), and the Society of Petroleum Engineers – International EH&S conferences section, the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation, and the Canadian Boreal Initiative – Boreal Leadership Council. He presently serves on the Board of Directors of the Pembina Institute, a respected and active Environmental Non-Government Organization that is focused on sustainable energy issues in Canada. Mr. Mann holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Zoology from the University of Alberta (1972 and 1974), and is a P. Biol. under the Alta. Soc. of Professional Biologists.

Gordon McIntosh
Manager Assets

Mr. McIntosh has over 17 years of experience in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in engineering and leadership roles. The last 7 years have been in management or leadership positions with Samson Canada Ltd., Tecton Energy and Trident Exploration Corp. He has worked in various engineering positions with Petro-Canada Oil and Gas, Star Oil and Gas, Samson Canada Ltd. and Ketch Resources Trust.

Besides various conventional development and exploration targets, Mr. McIntosh has had a long term focus on unconventional plays in Canada with: the Montney tight sand, the Cardium tight sand, the Wilrich shale and the Mannville coal with Star Oil and Gas, Samson Canada Ltd, Tecton Energy and Trident Exploration Corp.

Mr. McIntosh is a Director of Tetonka Resources Inc., Gallic Energy Ltd., and PWSI Energy Services Inc. Mr. McIntosh received a B.Eng. (Mechanical) from the University of Victoria and holds a P.Eng. with APEGA and APEG of BC.

Randell D. Pryor
Manager, Drilling & Completions

Mr. Pryor has 37 years of experience in drilling, completion and production operations in Canada and internationally. Mr. Pryor has worked with major and mid-sized companies in Canada and abroad.
Mr. Pryor has a P.Eng from the University of Alberta and he is a member of APEGGA, CADE and SPE.