ABOUT

Management Team

Brian Schmidt (Aakaikkitstaki)
President & Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Schmidt is President, CEO and a founder of Tamarack, and is a professional engineer with over 39 years of oil and gas experience. With $2.5 million of seed equity raised from friends and family, Tamarack has grown steadily to become an intermediate producer. Prior to Tamarack, Mr. Schmidt was the President of Apache Canada for three years of his seven-year tenure, growing the company from 17,000 boe/d to over 120,000 boe/d. His career began at Shell Canada, where he spent 19 years prior to joining Apache. Mr. Schmidt is an honorary chief of the Blood Tribe in Southern Alberta, and is the Industry Advisor on the Indian Oil and Gas Canada / Indian Resource Council Co-management Board. He serves on the Board of Governors of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, where he is also the Chair of the Indigenous Engagement Priority Steering Group. He is passionate about volunteering for organizations that strive for the betterment of the oil and gas industry.

Mr. Schmidt grew up on a ranch in the Waterton area and currently ranches southwest of Calgary in Turner Valley. His love of the land and ranching lifestyle has helped guide Tamarack to become a leader in Environmental & Community Corporate Social Responsibility.

Steve Buytels
Vice President, Finance & Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Buytels brings over 13 years of oil and gas capital markets, finance and advisory industry experience. He most recently served as Managing Director and Co-Head of Institutional Energy Equities at Stifel FirstEnergy where he was responsible for E&P, oilfield service and infrastructure related capital markets advisory as well as debt and equity financing. Prior to, Mr. Buytels served as principal at Peters & Co in the Institutional Equities group and Head of Energy at an independent investment bank, with offices in Toronto, Montreal and London, and was responsible for the buildout of their institutional energy business. Mr. Buytels holds a Chartered Financial Analyst Designation and a Bachelors of Management from the University of Lethbridge.

Kevin Screen
Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Screen has been Tamarack’s COO since July 2021, and prior, he held the role of VP Production & Operations since September 2011. He has more than 30 years of experience in oil and gas operations and management positions, and spent nine years at Apache Canada Ltd., gaining diverse experience as a Production Engineer, Asset Team Leader and Manager Horn River Business Unit. Throughout his career, Mr. Screen has gained exposure to unconventional resources, light oil, sweet and sour gas and has experience with various fracture stimulation techniques used throughout the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. He began his career with Shell Canada Ltd. in 1989 after graduating from the University of Calgary with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering.

Christine Ezinga
Vice President, Corporate Planning and Business Development

Ms. Ezinga brings over 20 years of diverse capital markets experience in finance, investor relations and business development, including corporate and asset level mergers and acquisitions. Most recently, Christine held the position of Vice President of Strategy and Planning at Black Swan Energy, a Canadian oil and gas production company. Prior to joining Black Swan, Ms. Ezinga was Team Lead – Finance, Business Development at Sinopec Canada and has worked as an Analyst covering Canadian energy companies as part of CIBC’s Institutional Equity Research group. Christine currently serves on the Board of the Petroleum Acquisition and Divestiture Association, and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation (CFA) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) degree from the University of Calgary.

Ben Stoodley
Vice President, Engineering

Mr. Stoodley has been with Tamarack since August 2021 and brings significant experience in the energy industry from positions held in production engineering, business development and field development. Prior to joining Tamarack, Ben held the role of Manager, Development at West Lake Energy (formerly Twin Butte Energy) where he led their development group, focused on conventional heavy and medium oil assets in East Central Alberta. Ben began his career in Production Engineering in 2005 at Penn West Petroleum Ltd., where he transitioned to roles of increasing responsibility in Asset Development across a diverse asset base including unconventional and conventional oil and gas. Ben holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Calgary and is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta.

Lynne Chrumka
Vice President, Exploration

Ms. Chrumka brings more than 25 years of experience in the energy industry, specializing in exploration both domestically and globally. Prior to joining Tamarack, Lynne held the role of Vice President, Geosciences at ARC Resources and Seven Generations Energy. Earlier in her career, she held technical and leadership roles at several Canadian producers working in reservoirs across the Western Canadian Sedimentary and Williston Basins, along with Ecuador and Norway. Lynne holds a Bachelor of Science, Honours in Geology from the Queen’s University and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Calgary, and is a professional geologist with APEGA, a member of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Scott Shimek
Vice President, Production and Operations

Mr. Shimek brings more than 15 years of experience in the energy industry, having integrated his diverse technical knowledge into various leadership roles. Scott began his career in Production Engineering in 2006 at Bonavista Energy Corporation, an oil and natural gas production company, and continued to advance within the organization. He assumed roles of increasing responsibility across Production, Operations and Resource Development, and prior to joining Tamarack, held the position of Vice President, Resource Development with responsibility of leading the asset teams to pursue best-in-class asset development. Scott holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (Distinction) from the University of Alberta and is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta.

June-Marie Innes
Director, Finance & Sustainability

Ms. Innes has been with Tamarack since 2012 and is a CPA and MBA with 17 years of oil and gas experience. Prior to Tamarack, Ms. Innes held finance and administration roles with Anderson Energy Inc., Highpine Oil & Gas Ltd., and Vaquero Energy Ltd., where she took on senior finance and accounting positions of increasing responsibility and complexity. Ms. Innes holds a Bachelor of Science from Mount Royal University and a Master of Business Administration from Yale School of Management.

Rocky Baker
Director, Oil, LNG & Gas Marketing

Ms. Baker brings over 17 years of oil and gas marketing experience. She most recently served as Manager of the Commercial Services Group at Inter Pipeline which included Lease Marketers and Commercial Services Representatives. Her group straddled both Marketing and Conventional Pipelines. Prior to, Rocky worked 11 years in Cenovus’ marketing department in both the Upstream and Downstream divisions. She specialized in expansions and new projects due to her ability to successfully plan and execute change. She took on her first leadership role managing the trunk line logistics team. Rocky holds a Chartered Professional Accounting (CPA) Designation and a Bachelors of Commerce from the University of Calgary.