TAG Oil Executive Leadership

Our leadership team has deep expertise in guiding the development and growth of financial and international oil and gas companies.

Alex P. Guidi, Director
Mr. Guidi is highly experienced international oil and gas entrepreneur and the founder of TAG Oil. Mr. Guidi began his journey into the oil business as a drilling roughneck in Alberta at age 18. Since then, he has founded and led a number of successful Canadian-based growth companies. Mr. Guidi has also led the funding, development and growth strategy of several companies that pioneered exploration onshore and offshore in Australasia and China throughout the early 1990s to the present, which has resulted in the discovery of several wildcat oil and gas discoveries in New Zealand and major gas reserves in Papua New Guinea's Foreland, key parts of which were recently acquired by Talisman Energy. In the 1980s, Mr. Guidi introduced new horizontal drilling technology to mature fields in South East Saskatchewan, transforming Walking Stick Oil and Gas Ltd. into a significant entity that later merged with Bonavista Petroleum.

Garth Johnson, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Mr. Johnson is a Certified General Accountant and hands-on business executive who has extensive experience in accounting, corporate finance, and managing, reporting and legal matters pertaining to the oil and gas industry. He has been directly involved in oil and gas activities, primarily in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, over the past 14 years and has been instrumental in developing a number of international companies from start-up to listing on the TSX and AMEX exchanges. Mr. Johnson, who has served on a number of public company boards, brings a depth of expertise and proven transactional and leadership skills and is renowned for his persistence and perseverance.

Drew Cadenhead, Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Cadenhead received world-class technical training and in-depth knowledge of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin during his 24 years based in Calgary. Thirteen of those years were with Canadian Hunter Exploration. He also worked in various leadership capacities for a number of other Canadian-based companies including Ulster Petroleum, Selkirk Energy and Summit Resources. At Summit he was responsible for identifying and leading the company into the Gunnell area of BC to test the Upper Devonian Jean Marie Formation where multi-TCF gas deposits were subsequently discovered. Mr. Cadenhead gained his New Zealand experience with Fletcher Challenge Energy Taranaki, leading a team of geoscientists, engineers and technical support staff into a successful multi-well drilling program and secondary recovery implementation before joining TAG Oil in 2003. Drew holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geology from the University of Calgary, and is a member of APEGGA.

Blair Johnson, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Johnson, who holds a Bachelor of Management Studies with First Class Honors in Accounting and Marketing, has worked with the Company for the last four years. His responsibilities have included corporate governance and accounting functions for TAG’s New Zealand subsidiaries. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (UK), and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand. Prior to joining TAG, Mr. Johnson was Finance Director for Bridge Petroleum Limited (NZ) and has an exceptional track record of managing operational risk in highly regulated industries.

Giuseppe (Pino) Perone, Secretary/Treasurer
Mr. Perone is an active member of the Law Society of British Columbia and is currently practicing as a corporate lawyer for a group of public companies. He obtained a B.A. with distinction in Sociology from the University of Victoria in 2001 and an LL.B. from the University of Alberta in 2005, and has previously articled at the law firm of Lang Michener LLP in their Vancouver, British Columbia office.

John Vaccaro, Director
Mr. Vaccaro has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. Until 2006 he was a senior investment executive with major international brokerage firms, where he directed and provided investment consulting to high net worth individuals as well as corporate and institutional clients. Since 2006, Mr. Vaccaro has established a private client consulting practice in the financial services sector. Mr. Vaccaro is a member of the Fellowship Canadian Securities Institute and holds a diploma from the University of British Columbia in Urban Land Economics with double Majors.

Michael Hart, Director
Mr. Hart is a long-time investor in natural resources. Currently, he is the President and a director of AMG Oil Ltd., and the Corporate Secretary and a director of Entourage Mining Ltd. Mr. Hart has previously worked in the financial markets' sector with a number of financial institutions where he acted as an account executive and financial consultant. Since 1995, Mr. Hart has worked with an investment-banking group responsible for taking projects from start up to the public markets.

Ronald Bertuzzi, Director
Mr. Bertuzzi holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of British Columbia and he has more than 20 years of executive, board and committee experience with US and Canadian junior listed companies focused primarily in the oil and gas industry doing business in Australasia. Ron’s experience covers various stages of company development beginning with initial start-up and initial public offerings, acquiring and exploring significant exploration acreages and ending in discovery, facility development and commercial production of oil and gas.