Nolan Watson

Nolan Watson
Born August 1, 1979 (1979-08-01) (age 32)
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Nationality Canadian
Alma mater University of British Columbia
Occupation President and CEO -
Sandstorm Gold,
Sandstorm Metals & Energy
President - Nations Cry
Director -
Bear Creek Mining
Spouse Dana Watson
Children 2

Nolan Watson (born August 1, 1979) is a Canadian entrepreneur, known for his work in the mining industry and his humanitarian efforts in Africa. When Watson was named the Chief Financial Officer of Silver Wheaton in 2006,[1] he became the youngest CFO (age 26) of a multi-billion dollar market capitalization company listed on the New York Stock Exchange[2] and helped build Silver Wheaton into the largest metal streaming company in the world.[3]

Since his departure in 2008, Watson has helped launch two metal streaming companies, Sandstorm Resources (now Sandstorm Gold)[4] and Sandstorm Metals & Energy,[5] and has sat on a number of boards of directors including Gold Wheaton and Bear Creek Mining.[6][7] In addition to his work in the mining sector, Watson founded a Canadian Charitable organization called Nations Cry, which is dedicated to providing education to children in Africa.[8]

Contents

Early years

Nolan Watson was born in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, where he grew up with his brother Andrew and his parents, Stuart and Linda. He attended Crescent Park Elementary School, later moving on to White Rock Christian Academy for secondary school, where he was the valedictorian of his graduating class.[9]

Career

Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce degree (with honors) from the University of British Columbia in 2001, Watson enrolled in the Institute of Chartered Accountants and began articling with the professional services firm Deloitte and Touche. The future looked bright for Watson as he was awarded the "BC Gold Medal" on the final CA examination (the "UFE"), scoring the highest mark in Western Canada and becoming the Valedictorian of in the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia.[9] Later, he continued to upgrade his education by completing the Chartered Financial Analyst designation through the CFA Institute, and was later recognized as one of the "Most Motivated" CFA charterholders by CFA magazine.[8]

Although Watson’s area of focus during his time at Deloitte was mining and metals, he had not considered a career in the industry until he was given the opportunity to join Silver Wheaton alongside Ian Telfer, the highly regarded mining entrepreneur. Telfer’s new venture aimed to create the first ever ‘metal streaming company' by completing Volumetric Production Payment transactions. At 25 years of age, Watson became the Controller of Silver Wheaton and a short time later by the age of 26, was named Chief Financial Officer making him the youngest CFO of a multi-billion dollar market capitalization company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In his four year tenure with Silver Wheaton, Watson helped raise over US$1 billion in debt and equity to fund the organization’s growth.[10]

With his experience at Silver Wheaton behind him, Watson decided to embark on a new venture with his business partner David Awram, and created Sandstorm Resources, (now Sandstorm Gold)[4], a metal streaming company focused on gold purchase agreements.[11] Although the organization began during a tumultuous time in the capital markets, Watson was able to raise the necessary capital and begin to build his own legacy in the mining industry. With six metal stream deals completed and the first revenue from Sandstorm Gold in his sights, Watson saw an opportunity to apply the metal streaming business model to the base metal, bulk commodity and energy sectors and Sandstorm Metals & Energy was born.[12] Watson also currently sits on the board of directors for Bear Creek Mining Corp and Blue Gold Mining Inc.

Philanthropy

Amidst all of his business endeavors, Watson has always been a philanthropist at heart and in 2005 he founded Nations Cry, a Canadian charitable organization focused on providing world class education to underprivileged children in Africa.[8] Nations Cry is a volunteer based organization with a financial structure such that 100% of all donations go directly to the end cause, helping the children who need it. Watson’s vision has led Nations Cry to Sierra Leone, a country that was marred by more than a decade of civil war ending in 2001.

Nations Cry has completed a school building project at the International DOVE orphanage in Gloucester, Sierra Leone, and has purchased land with plans to build a community school just outside of the capital city of Freetown.[13]

Achievements

Notes

  1. ^ "Silver Wheaton Appoints Peter Barnes As President And Ceo And Elects New Directors". silverwheaton.com. April 20, 2006. http://www.silverwheaton.com/News/PressReleases/PressReleaseDetails/2006/Silver-Wheaton-Appoints-Peter-Barnes-as-President-and-CEO-and-Elects-New-Directors/default.aspx. 
  2. ^ a b c "Early Achievement Award Winners". Beyond Numbers. June 2009. http://www.ica.bc.ca/kb.php3?pageid=4437. 
  3. ^ "The Silver Wheaton Success Story". northernminer.com. February 1–7, 2010. http://www.northernminer.com/issuesV2/VerifyLogin.aspx. 
  4. ^ a b "Sandstorm Resources Announces Name Change to Sandstorm Gold". marketwire.com. February 17, 2011. http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Sandstorm-Resources-Announces-Name-Change-to-Sandstorm-Gold-TSX-VENTURE-SSL-1397653.htm. 
  5. ^ "Sandstorm Targets More Than Precious Metals". dowjones.com. April 14, 2010. 
  6. ^ "Gold Wheaton Management". goldwheaton.com. July 2010. http://www.goldwheaton.com/about_us/management/. 
  7. ^ "Bear Creek Mining Directors". bearcreekmining.com. July 2010. http://www.bearcreekmining.com/s/Directors.asp. 
  8. ^ a b c d "Two Young Men In A Hurry Are Going Places - Fast!". CFA Institute Magazine. November/December 2007. http://www.cfapubs.org/doi/pdf/10.2469/cfm.v18.n6.4920. 
  9. ^ a b "The 2002 UFE Medallists". Beyond Numbers. January 2003. http://www.ica.bc.ca/kb.php3?pageid=1909. 
  10. ^ "Sandstorm Resources Management & Directors". sandstormresources.com. July 2010. http://www.sandstormresources.com/s/Management.asp. 
  11. ^ "Sandstorm Appoints Nolan Watson as President and Chief Executive Officer". sandstormresources.com. September 23, 2008. http://www.sandstormgold.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=323333. 
  12. ^ "Sandstorm Resources And Sandstorm Metals Announce Closing Of The Spin-Out Of Sandstorm Metals & Energy Ltd.". marketwire.com. May 13, 2010. http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Sandstorm-Resources-Sandstorm-Metals-Announce-Closing-Spin-Out-Sandstorm-Metals-Energy-TSX-VENTURE-SSL-1259589.htm. 
  13. ^ "Nations Cry - About Us". Nations Cry. May 2010. http://www.nationscry.com. 
  14. ^ "BiV Forty under 40 Winners - B.C.'s brightest young business stars totally exposed". Business In Vancouver. January 2–8, 2007. http://www.biv.com/40under40/2006.asp. 
  15. ^ "Casey's NexTen: Our Top 10 Rising Stars in the Natural Resource Sector". Casey Research. October 14, 2010. http://www.caseyresearch.com/nexten. 
  16. ^ "B.C.'s top 100 companies, 2010: Resources drive top companies". Vancouver Sun. October 28, 2010. http://www.vancouversun.com/business/companies+2010+Resources+drive+companies/3731242/story.html. 
  17. ^ "Nolan Watson, 31: mining CEO with a humanitarian heart". The Globe and Mail. April 29, 2011. http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/managing/top-40-under-40/top-40-under-40-2010/nolan-watson-31-mining-ceo-with-a-humanitarian-heart/article2001417/?service=mobile. 

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