Ali Erfan

Biographical Information
"Ali Erfan is the Chief Executive Officer of Tigris Financial Group (UK) LLP, a member of the Tigris Group of companies. The Tigris Group has an unrivalled 15 year track record of private and public equity investing focused on the natural resources sector, principally gold and precious metals mining as well as oil and gas.

"Mr. Erfan has been in senior roles in the venture capital and private equity industry for over twelve years. Most recently, he was a senior partner at 3i Group’s London headquarters. As a member of the management team of 3i’s venture capital group, he had several responsibilities including the expansion of 3i’s investment business into several new geographies - including the Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”), Japan, Eastern & Central Europe, SE Asia and China - as well as into new sectors such as clean technology and alternative energy.

"Mr. Erfan holds several board seats and senior advisory roles. He was a founding board member of Leor Energy from inception: a Houston-based oil and gas exploration company, the Texas operations of which were sold to Encana for $2.55 billion in November 2007. He is a board member of Electrum Ltd., the world’s largest privately-held gold exploration company operating across sixteen countries, and of TTI Inc., a global oil and gas exploration and technology company in the U.S. He is a member of the investment committee of Augustus Ltd – a major investment fund operating out of Europe. He is also a board member of Panthera in the UK, one of the world’s largest wildcat conservation groups...

"He holds a B.A. and M.A. (Honors) from Oxford University where he studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics as well as an MBA from the London Business School. He is also a fellow of the Kauffman Foundation for Venture Capital."