Directors
Ms Silvana De Cianni
Managing Director
As Managing Director and co-founder of Astra, Ms De Cianni is responsible for the company’s strategic direction, growth and development. Ms De Cianni has guided Astra from what was principally a resource commodities business to a diversified global asset and technology development company that reaches into India, Eastern Europe, South East Asia, Africa and Australia.
Ms De Cianni is an internationally experienced business executive with a proven track record in the mining industry. With many years of experience in contract mining, corporate finance, mining project development and commodities management, Ms De Cianni has a unique understanding of the global resources and mining services industries.
She has undertaken extensive management of complex financial and corporate activities, and has had significant exposure to the investment, mergers and acquisitions, broking and commodities sectors, making her ideally positioned to identify and successfully capitalise on opportunities for Astra.
Dr Jaydeep Biswas
Chief Executive Officer B.Eng, MBA, Ph.D
Dr Jaydeep Biswas (BE, PhD, MBA) is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Astra, and responsible for guiding the company in its future direction and long-term growth. Dr Biswas is behind the tactical execution of the Astra vision through to a successful Frankfurt stock exchange listing.
Dr Biswas brings a wealth of international business experience from the past 20 years with a distinguished career with the Royal Dutch Shell Group of Companies in Europe and Asia Pacific, including running its Corporate Planning and M&A operation in Australia. Since 2001, he has been involved with advising and directing early stage companies including sustainable development company EnergyMad Ltd.
Dr Biswas adds significant commercial mining and finance expertise invaluable in the rollout of the Astra business. His expertise includes mining tenement acquisition, budgets and strategic plans; liaising and negotiating with mining departments and other officials; negotiating directly with foreign governments and joint venture partners; sourcing geological, management and statutory reports; and presentations to companies, stockbrokers and financial institutions.
Dr Biswas was born in India and maintains business and political relationships in that country that facilitate the growth of Astra and its subsidiaries in the region. Dr Biswas holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) and Ph.D. from the University of Queensland and an MBA from Queensland University of Technology.
Dr Daniel Ghee Chong Yeoh
Non-Executive Finance Director PhD (Finance), B. Commerce (Hons), B. Economics
Dr Yeoh possesses extensive experience in a range of investment banking and management positions, including seven years of investment banking experience in one of the premier investment banks, CIMB Investment Bank.
During his time at CIMB Dr Yeoh was involved in a wide range of financial products such as initial public offerings, mergers and takeovers, fund raising, and various other corporate advisories. In his last two years at CIMB Dr Yeoh established the investment banking business in the Northern Region of Malaysia, where he was responsible for managing over 300 corporate clients.
Currently acting as a Director – Investment & Corporate Finance for Tune Service SDN BHD, Dr Yeoh is involved in analysing, recommending and executing investment proposals to the Tune Group, including Tune Hotels.com and Tune Talk, amongst others. Dr Yeoh brings a wealth of real-world experience to his position, backed by a doctorate degree in Finance from the Australian National University and two degrees from the University of Adelaide, including Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Commerce (Hons).
Adele Bekirovski
General Manager
Mrs Bekirovski is the General Manager of Astra Mining, with daily operational oversight of the company’s activities from its Head Office ensuring the operation of the company is aligned to the company vision. Mrs Bekirovski reports to the Board on the progress of the various business units including finance, human resources, marketing and administration; and is also responsible for rollout of local operations and site administration the company’s satellite locations.
Mario Candiotto
Chief Financial Officer
Mr Candiotto has over 30 years’ experience in the manufacturing sector having worked for major multinational firms such as Tenneco Automotive, Goodman Fielder, Southcorp, Coca Cola Amatil and Monier.
Mr Candiotto has held numerous positions including Finance Manager, Financial/Management/Systems Accountant with specialisation in manufacturing systems, taxation and statutory reporting, and liaising with external bodies such as Auditors, Bankers and Tax Office. Mr Candiotto is also a Champion in Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing Management.
Breff Gorman
Chief Operations Officer
Mr Gorman is a highly experienced Director and COO with over 20 years' in the MEP Building Services, Facilities Management and Property Development industries.
He most recently was COO in Janayen LLC, a Property Development and Investment company based in Dubai and listed on the Singapore stock exchange, and GM at Crown House Technologies, one of Europe’s largest MEP and FM companies with an annual turnover of £350 million.
Through his own consultancy, Mr Gorman was engaged to Austmark Properties, Multiplex Australia (now Brookfield Multiplex) and other top tier companies throughout the Middle East and Asia in the matters of Property Development, Construction Management, ISO accreditation and company policies and processes.
Robert Candiotto
Property Officer
Robert Candiotto has a background in property development and property finance, with a particular focus on due-diligence and property funding.
Grant Willis Roberts
Consultant Geologist
Mr Roberts has 30 years of experience in Geotechnical, Exploration, Contaminant/Saline Intrusion Studies, Groundwater Investigations, Engineering Geology, Groundwater Modeling, Hydrogeology, Engineering Geology and Coal experience.
Mr Roberts holds a Masters of Science degree with First Class Honours from the University of Auckland. Mr Roberts has worked in a range of environments both in New Zealand and Australia and Asia.
Aldo Giustozzi
Director of Operations, Europe
Mr Giustozzi is Director of Operations for Astra in Europe. Over the last 20 years Mr Giustozzi has been in senior management of a number of businesses and more recently has been an entrepreneur developing his own businesses covering property development and construction, electronics, marketing and communication and tourism.
Peter Laszlo
Operations Manager, Hungary
Mr Laszlo founded his consulting company BPS International in 2001, following a ten-year period in computer hardware systems and software development involving Australia’s largest inbound tourism companies.
He also prepared a number of business strategy reports for the Federal Government and Tourism Authorities on marketing Australia and Australian market expansion into the Central Eastern European region.
Mr Laszlo and BPS International were also involved in a lengthy research project in Hungary, which involved a technically unique friction welding system. The technology which was developed over a period of fifteen years, is based on the metallurgical properties of metals and has not been able to be duplicated by other suppliers of welding technologies. The technology was sold to U.S. Italian and Canadian companies and it is currently used extensively by a leading German manufacturer.
Mr Laszlo who is an Electronics and Systems Engineer, also completed a major IT infrastructure projects in the Cadia Hill gold mine in Orange, NSW and for the Caterpillar (CAT) organisation’s NSW head office. He was responsible for managing major IT infrastructure projects for Fujitsu Australia, Woolworths, the Coles Group, NSW Fire Brigades, Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW (RTA), the Commonwealth Bank and BOC Gases.
In 2010 he commenced the technology acquisitions in Hungary for the Astra group.
Dr Laszlo Kiss
Steel Developer – Technical Manager
Dr László Kiss, a graduate of the Hungarian University of Heavy Industry, completed the Steel Manufacturing and Blast Furnace technology engineering course in 1953. He was employed by the Diósgyőr Steel Works (later Lenin Steel Works, DAMM, DEMAG), one of the largest steel works in Europe at that time, where he worked as a research engineer, technical manager, General manager and held various other senior posts until the sale of the factory complex in the late 1990s.
Dr Oszkar Grega
Steel Developer – Technical Manager
Dr Grega is a Chemical Engineer and holds a number of degrees including Post Graduate Degree Matallurgy, a Degree in Euromanagment, and a Ph.D.
He is a member of the Committee of Metallurgy, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), a Technical and Production Manager for DAM STEEL, a long established Hungarian steel manufacturer and a Special Adviser for Corus Steel for the privatisation tender of Dunaferr.
Jim Feldman
Director of Astra Coal Technology
Mr Feldman is a founder and the Managing Director of IET and has over 30 years experience across a wide range of sectors, working at many levels of business including experience in formulating international joint business ventures, which he has done for ex-USSR and numerous Australian companies.
Mr Feldman holds a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Ukrainian Polygraphic Institute (Lvov, Ukraine) majoring in machinery building technology, and is a former member of NZ IPE.
Vladimir Petrovich Sevastyanov
Director of Scientific R&D of Interecotech Pty Ltd
Director of Astra Coal Technology
Mr Petrovich Sevastyanov is a Director of Scientific R&D of the Interecotech Pty Ltd, and a founder of the Russian Sun Pty Ltd (Novosibirsk). He has over 35 years experience across a wide range of sectors including development of highly automated chemical processes for the production of epoxy compounds, development of power converter technologies and tracking systems, special purpose motors and control automation and power systems, technologies for thermal power plants, development of digital robotics and weapons systems, integrated design of automated production of coal-water based fuels and solar power generation systems.
Previously Mr Petrovich Sevastyanov was a Managing Director of Oil Technology Pty Ltd (Novosibirsk) and held a position of a Director of Scientific and R&D with SibEcoEnergo Pty Ltd (Novosibirsk), leading project of the Helioairbaric Thermal Electric Station – a new solar power generation technology.
He holds a large number of USSR-Russian author's certificates and patents, mainly in clean coal and renewable power generation technologies and is the inventor of the method for Generation of Electricity by PseudoDetonation Coal Slurry Gasification Combined Cycle (ICSGCC). Mr Petrovich Sevastyanov has a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Novosibirsk Polytechnic Institute, majoring in electric power generation and transmission systems.
Ajay Kapoor
Director of Astra Mining (India) Pvt. Ltd
Mr Kapoor is the General Manager of Orissa Mines, in addition to his capacity as Director of Astra’s Indian operations. Prior to joining Astra, he conducted various marketing roles in Shaw Wallace, India. He was part of the ground operation management for ModiLuft (a joint venture between Modi group of India and Lufthansa, Germany). He then completed General Management roles with Modi Xerox (a JV with Xerox Corporation USA) and a marketing role with Mitsui corporation in the Delhi office, with a focus on mines and mineral trading (part of the team which completed sale of Sesa Goa mine to Vedanta group for 2800 crores). He also managed a supply division for the Indian military.
Rocky Young
President and Operations Director/General Manager of CRCDC Phillipines
Mr Young possess extensive managerial and directorship skills and experience across various industries such fishery and construction in the Philippines.
Milicent Smith
CRCDC Lawyer
Ms Smith possess extensive legal experience with over 40 years in relevant industries. Her experience is underpinned by a Bachelor of Laws form Adamson University in the Philippines.
Florian Young
CRCDC Chairman
Ms Young has been involved in the construction and fishery industry. Her experience is underpinned by a Bachelor of Science, Marketing.
Nancy Aguinaldo
Executive Assistant – Philippines
Ms Aguinaldo has public and media relations experience through her role with the Home Development Mutual Fund (Philippine Provident Savings and Housing Loan Program ) where she coordinated with different Government Offices and Private Corporations/Individuals on behalf of the Agency, and conducted information dissemination/media campaigns through TV and Radio broadcasts. Ms Aguinaldo has organised events and created new Programs for the Institution and supervised personnel
Michael Knobel
Director of Operations – Cambodia
Mr Knoble has extensive experience in the international hotel industry. He has worked in the US where he negotiated contracts for different associated businesses, and moved to Manila where he now resides negotiating different agreements with the Philippine Racing Club and the San Miguel company.
Sunday Abraham
Operations Manager, Nigeria
Mr Abraham has extensive experience in banking operations and marketing management working on the planning, research and development of free energy projects and direct prototyping for various products. Mr Abraham has directed and managed all operations including 20 employees and reported to the CEO and held full profit and loss accountability. During his past experiences he has managed plants in four different locations, established stringent operations budgets and manufacturing labour standards.
Godfrey Osizemete Austin
Geologist, Nigeria
Mr Osizemete Austin has over 10 years experience as a geologist and has held a number of roles on a variety of projects in Nigeria. He has held positions at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, GMO Technical Nigeria, Izom Clay & Brick Company and for Western Goldfields Group. Mr Osizemete Austin is an independent consultant to solid mineral title holders and investors as both a Mineral Tenement Manger, arranging the acquisition of mineral deposit sites and mining title applications, and a Mineral Deposit Site Developer, providing geological mapping and studies.
Ronald Kukler
Chairman/CEO of Green Diesel
Mr Kukler is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Green Diesel. He is a certified mechanical engineer with tertiary disciplines in a wide range of engineering applications. He has 30 years experience in the combustion field with ICI, Shell Australia, Gas & Fuel Corporation, Boral, Gilbarco, John Thompson Combustion Engineering, Furnace Engineering Pty Ltd, Bernard Smith and Malcolm Moore Pty Ltd.
He is the winner of national awards Max Wurker Australian Design Award, Outstanding Alumni Award, Australian Inventor of the Year Award, and the Australian Machine of the Year Award. He is also a Gold Medal (Class A) Winner at the Geneva (Switzerland) inventors’ exhibition.
John Smit
Marketing Director, Green Diesel
Mr Smit has been a director of marketing for a number of products globally, including, USA, Canada, Europe and Australia and has 35 years of technical marketing experience.
Ferenc Rinyu and György Jakab
Developers, Carbony Technology
Mr Rinyu and Mr Jakab are the developers of the Carbony Technology. It was developed by Stirling Hungary, a small special purpose technology company specialising in environmental engineering, energy transfer and renewable energy products. The developers have also worked on various energy related products for Austrian and German interests. Stirling is also an accredited NATO supplier. They have partnered with Astra in order to assure that the gas mixture separation project can have world wide exposure and appropriate international marketing structure.
Stephane Muller-Margot
Project Director, Astra Nigeria Pty Ltd.
Mr Muller-Margot brings in excess of 23 years experience in the resource industry, spanning the provision of specialist corporate advisory services, strategic planning and risk management to numerous companies. He has also been involved in high level strategic developments in Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOE).
Mr Muller-Margot speaks fluent French, English and Chinese and holds a Bachelor of Economics. He is a highly motivated and disciplined professional with extensive experience in exploration and negotiation in the mining industry. He specialises in developing marketing strategies, risk management and has engaged extensively with key stakeholders.
|
