Circa Group is dedicated to maintaining high standards of corporate governance. The Company endeavors to be in compliance with the Norwegian corporate governance regime, as detailed in the Norwegian Code of Practice for Corporate Governance, published on 21 October 2009 by the Norwegian Corporate Governance Board. The Company’s principles for corporate governance correspond with the Code of Practice and are documented in its policy.
Board of Directors
Lars Peder Sørvaag Sperre
Chairman
Norwegian citizen.
Joined the board in 2020 and has been Chairman since 2020.
Term of office expires in 2022.
Holds 253,552 shares in Circa Group.
Mr. Sperre is the Senior Vice President Corporate Strategy of Norske Skog ASA and has held various senior roles including President and Chief Executive Officer, Legal Counsel and was Vice President. Before this, Lars worked as an associate lawyer at the Norwegian law Firm Wikborg Rein Advokatfirma AS, having graduated from the University of Bergen with a Cand. Jur. Degree (master’s in law).
Greg Court
Co-Founder and Board Director
Australian citizen.
Joined the board in 2020.
Term of office expires in 2023.
Controls 5,931,000 shares in Circa Group.
Mr. Court is one of the founders of Circa Limited and has been a director of Circa Limited since 2005. He has over 30 years-experience in the pulp and paper industry in Australia and the US. Previous roles include Executive General Manager Australian Paper, General Manager Functional Coatings (Amcor), and senior strategy roles within Amcor. Greg holds degrees in chemical engineering and business administration from Swinburne University.
Rune Sollie
Board Director
American citizen.
Joined the board in 2020.
Term of office expires in 2022.
Holds 152,890 shares in Circa Group.
Mr. Sollie is the Chief Financial Officer of Norske Skog ASA. Prior to joining Norske Skog ASA, he was the senior financial reporting and compliance director at Statoil Fuel & Retail AS. Before this, Rune was a Partner at Uniconsult AS and held various positions at Yara International ASA and KPMG AS. He holds a bachelor of science in accounting and auditing from Oslo University College (Norway) and is a state authorised public accountant from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH Norway).
Jim Henneberry
Board Director
Dual US and Australian citizen.
Joined the Circa AS board in 2021.
Term of office expires in 2023.
Controls 1,773,340 shares in Circa Group.
Mr. Henneberry currently chairs Timberland Pacific and is a trustee at Monash BioPria. He was formally CEO/MD of Australia Paper and served on the board of Forest and Wood Products Australia. Jim has had numerous CEO and director roles in operations, sales and R&D. His business experience covers the Americas, ANZ, Asia and Europe. He holds degrees in pulp and paper engineering from SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry, BS from Syracuse University NY and MBA from the University of Houston TX.
Trond Stangeby
Board Director
Norwegian citizen. Joined the board in 2021.
Term of office expires in 2023.
Does not hold shares in Circa Group.
Mr. Stangeby has previously held several management and executive positions in Norsk Hydro and Yara International. He has also been part of the management team in the Norske Skog Group from 2011 to 2013. He has also held a Director position in Moelven Industrier. Trond holds a master’s in chemical engineering from Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Elise Fahlen
Board Director
Swedish citizen. Joined the board in 2022.
Term of office expires in 2024.
Does not hold shares in Circa Group.
Ms. Fahlén is a passionate investor who, in addition to private investment endeavours, has extensive professional experience from venture capital and private equity investing in Europe as well as the U.S. She is currently employed as an Investment Manager at the venture capital investment branch of the H&M Group and has amongst others previously worked for management consulting firm The Boston Consulting Group and global private equity firm EQT. Elise holds a Master of Economics and Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics and McGill University.
Martin Laudenbach
Board Director
German citizen. Joined the board in 2022.
Term of office expires in 2024.
Does not hold shares in Circa Group.
Mr Laudenbach holds a Master in Business Administration and has extensive experience in the international chemical industry from serving in senior positions at BASF and Solvay. Mr Laudenbach currently works as a professional advisor and holds various director positions including in the Polish chemical group CIECH S.A., a company listed on the Warsaw and Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Circa Management
Tony Duncan
Chief Executive Officer
Tony is the CEO and co-founder of Circa. He worked for over 30 years in the Australian and New Zealand forestry and paper industry before founding Circa in 2006.
Tone Leivestad
Chief Financial Officer
Tone has had extensive experience in finance, consulting and industry. She was previously Head of CFO Advisory at both KPMG Norway and Accenture Norway, as well as Group CFO in top-tier operations.
Jason Camp
Chief Technology Officer
Jason is a highly qualified PhD chemist with considerable experience working in both academia and industry across the US, Australia and UK. He has conducted research and published extensively in the areas of green chemistry and sustainable solvents, including Cyrene™.
Sarah Hickingbottom
General Manager
Previously CEO for the bioeconomy innovation cluster BioVale, Sarah has worked on other BBI JU projects delivering prize winning results and sits on the BioSwitch Advisory Board. A PhD chemist, she has extensive global experience advising brand owners, chemical manufacturers, start-ups and agricultural producers on bio-based economics and value chains.
Amanda Keogh
General Manager Sustainability and Marketing
Amanda is a recognised leader in sustainability and has supported many organisations to protect and enhance brand and stakeholder relations through ESG strategies and communications.
Philipp Morgenthaler
Head of Manufacturing
Philipp has impressive experience in the development of greenfield factories and industrial-scale production facilities. He has significant global manufacturing expertise and networks from an international career spanning almost 20 years, leading teams across Europe, USA, China and Brazil.
Nick Smith
Head of Development and Commercialisation
Nick has global experience in the chemical industry from business development roles covering European, Asian and US markets. His significant expertise introducing products and building markets is key to Circa’s commercial growth.