Connacher Oil and Gas Limited - Calgary

Connacher has an industry-leading management team with in-depth experience in the development, production and sale of bitumen. The management team is supported by many additional talented and hard-working individuals, both at our field locations as well as at the head office in Calgary.

Merle Johnson, Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Johnson is a Professional Engineer, MBA and member of the Institute of Corporate Directors with 24 years of experience. Mr. Johnson has been with the Company for 14 years and is the longest serving executive in the Company’s history, having been appointed CEO in 2015.  He successfully led the Company through a very challenging period from when it entered CCAA in 2016 through to the completion of its restructuring and exit from CCAA in September 2019; at which point Connacher became a private company. Prior to Connacher, Mr. Johnson worked for EnCana (now Cenovus) on its Christina Lake and Senlac Projects and for IMC Global (now Mosaic) at Belle Plaine. Belle Plaine’s potash solution mining technique was the inspiration for SAGD technology. Mr. Johnson, a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta, has a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Calgary.

Jean-Pierre (J.P.) Buyze, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Buyze is the Chief Financial Officer of Connacher and is responsible for financings, accounting, treasury, risk management, and IT. He has over 24 years of combined experience in finance working in both the oil and gas industry as well as in investment banking. Prior to joining Connacher in 2020, Mr. Buyze was the CFO at an ARC-backed oil focused private oil and gas producer for the past two years and the CFO of a natural gas focused private oil and gas producer before that. Before entering the oil and gas industry, Mr. Buyze spent 20 years as an investment banker in Calgary, Toronto and New York focusing the majority of his career covering the energy sector. Mr. Buyze has a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the University of Western Ontario and a Masters of Business Administration from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

Gord Trainor, Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Trainor is a Professional Geologist and a member of APEGA. With Connacher since June 2010 and he has held positions of increasing responsibility until being promoted to Chief Operating Officer of Connacher in April 2019.Mr. Trainor is responsible for HSER (health, safety, environment and regulatory), indigenous relations, facility operations, engineering, reserves, development planning, logistics, exploration, and land. Prior to Connacher, Mr. Trainor was partner in a junior oil and gas company. He has over 24 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. Mr. Trainor has a bachelor’s degree in Earth Sciences from Brock University.

Suzanne Loov, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Ms. Loov has been the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the Corporation since July 2013. Prior to that she practiced in the area of corporate finance initially at a boutique securities firm and later as a partner of a major national firm specializing in public and private financings, acquisitions and divestitures, and corporate governance. Since leaving private practice in 2005, she consulted to public companies as corporate secretary of AMEX, TSX and TSX Venture Exchange listed issuers. Suzanne graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of British Columbia in 1993 and is a member of the Law Society of Alberta.