About Us – Board of Directors

Karim L. Karjian
Chairman

Karim Karjian is also chairman of Karalco Resources Limited.  He has 34 years of marketing and management experience with major corporations in the United States, Europe and the Middle East, primarily in telecommunications and transportation.  During the past 12 years he played a key role in the development of major mining, oil, transportation and telecommunications projects in sub-Saharan West Africa, including privatization, operations management and alumina sales at the Friguia alumina refinery in Guinea. Karjian co-founded Global Alumina in 1999.

Karjian earned a BA in economics from American University in Beirut, Lebanon

Bruce J. Wrobel
Chief Executive Officer

Bruce Wrobel has more than 25 years experience as a senior manager building industrial infrastructure projects around the world. In 1981 he co-founded the U.S. power company Mitex Inc., which was acquired by Sithe Energies Incorporated in 1986.  At Sithe, Wrobel was executive vice president responsible for the company’s worldwide business development and financing.  This team developed, financed and built more than 25 power plants including projects in Tunisia and the Philippines.  He played a lead role in taking Sithe public in June 1993.  In 1999, he co-founded Guinea Aluminum Products Company (GAPCO), which was renamed Global Alumina in 2004 when it became publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange through a reverse merger.  Wrobel is also the founder of Herakles Capital Corporation, a New York-based venture capital and resource development company. 

Wrobel earned BS degrees in economics and management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Michael J. Cella
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Michael Cella has more than 25 years of project development and finance experience, holding senior management positions in both international banking and private development firms.  Prior to joining Global Alumina and Herakles Capital, where he is also senior vice president, Cella was vice president of global project finance at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he provided financial advice and lending expertise on large infrastructure and industrial projects.  Cella also held the position of senior vice president of development at Sithe Energies, Inc.

Cella earned a BA in economics from Northwestern University and a Master of Management in finance and management policy from Northwestern University's J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Bernard Cousineau
Vice President & Director of Aluminpro

Bernard Cousineau has more than 30 years of aluminum industry experience, mostly focused on bauxite mining and alumina refining operations and general management. He served as president and chief operating officer of Global Alumina from 2004 until the Guinea Alumina Corporation joint venture was formed in May of 2007.  Prior to co-founding Aluminpro, he was president and CEO of Alcan Jamaica, where he is credited with bringing the diverse interests of government, labor and industry partners together to effect a 70 percent increase in productivity over a four-year period.  Prior to his role as CEO of Alcan Jamaica, Cousineau served as plant manager, operations director and superintendent of several other Alcan world-class alumina refineries, including the Aughinish refinery that processes bauxite from the CBG mine in Guinea. 

Cousineau earned a BS in chemical engineering from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario.

Abdulla Kalban
Member of the Board of Directors

Abdulla Kalban is a board nominee of Dubai Aluminium Company. Kalban has worked for Dubai Aluminium for 25 years, and currently serves as its President and Chief Executive Officer. Kalban earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of New Haven (USA).

Alan J. Gayer
Member of the Board of Directors

Alan Gayer has more than 30 years of management experience, strategically advising clients and organizations over a broad range of industries.   For 17 years Gayer worked at McKinsey & Company advising Fortune 500 clients, including one of the world's largest chemical companies.   He also served for three years as a director in the national strategy consulting practice of a U.S. public accounting firm, and eight years as chief executive officer of a U.S. health care system.   Most recently, Gayer served two years as CEO of Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

Gayer earned a BA degree in Social Sciences from Wesleyan University, a Bachelor of Philosophy in Economics from Oxford University (Balliol College) and a Master of Philosophy in Economics from Yale University.

Robert H. Getz
Member of the Board of Directors

Robert Getz has more than 25 years of financing, investing and mergers and acquisitions experience. After two years as a financial analyst for Prudential Investment Corporation working on leveraged financings and recapitalizations, Getz worked the next ten years as Managing Director and Partner for Prudential Equity Investors, a private equity investment firm. In 1996, Getz and other former partners of Prudential Equity Investors co-founded Cornerstone Equity Investors, a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations. Getz has significant experience serving on boards of directors, including current service on the boards of Haynes International, Palladon Ventures and CML Metals.

Getz earned a BA degree in International Relations from Boston University and an MBA in Finance from The Stern School of Business, New York University.

David Suratgar
Member of the Board of Directors

David Suratgar has more than 30 years of infrastructure project finance experience.  He is a former vice-chairman of Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and is currently the chairman of the advisory board at Taylor-DeJongh.  Suratgar has advised governments, central banks, privatization commissions and state agencies around the world, including the Republic of Guinea.  He has considerable experience working with the Government of the Republic of Guinea, including as legal counsel at the World Bank on the Boké bauxite mining project and later as adviser to the government for negotiations with the bauxite and alumina industry.

Suratgar earned BA and MA degrees in jurisprudence from Oxford University in Oxford, England and an MA degree in international law and economics from Columbia University.