Li-Cycle is a leading global lithium-ion battery resource recovery company.

Ajay Kochhar is the President, CEO and co-founder of Li-Cycle.

In this role, Ajay provides strategic oversight and leadership for Li-Cycle’s operations, commercial and financing activities, as well as shared services.

Before founding Li-Cycle, Ajay gained extensive technology and project development experience through a series of progressive roles within Hatch’s industrial cleantech and advisory practices. While working at Hatch, he developed in-depth, engineering and project management experience through clean technology development in the lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, gold, lead, zinc, molybdenum, and rare earth metals industries. He has demonstrated technical expertise that spans the entire project lifecycle, from conceptual and pre-feasibility studies to construction and commissioning.

Born and raised in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, Ajay comes from entrepreneurial roots, having gained experience from a young age via a family business.

Ajay is a graduate of the University of Toronto and holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc) in Chemical Engineering.

Christine Barwell is Li-Cycle’s Chief Human Resources Officer and is responsible for Li-Cycle’s overall HR strategy, function, and processes.

Christine has over 20 years of HR experience and is a seasoned human resources leader who has built and managed global teams through periods of rapid growth. She brings more than a decade of progressive HR experience in the mining sector preceded by over a decade in HR professional services at PwC.

Before joining Li-Cycle, Christine was Vice President, Human Resources, at Alamos Gold where she oversaw the global HR strategy and policy framework, regulatory compliance, succession planning, and the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion mandate.

Christine received a Masters of Business Administration from McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business with a specialty in digital transformation. She holds a number of HR designations including Certified Human Resources Leader, Global Remuneration Professional, and Certified Compensation Professional and recently completed the Diversity and Equity certificate program from Cornell University.  She is based in Toronto, where she lives with her family.

Chris Biederman is a Professional Engineer with 15 years of process engineering experience. He joined Li-Cycle in 2020 as the company’s Chief Process Engineer and was quickly promoted to Chief Technical Officer.

Chris brings extensive expertise to his current role, having acted as Lead Process Engineer for numerous large and small EPCM projects in the mining industry. He has experience working on greenfield and brownfield projects and overseeing bench-scale and pilot-scale testing. Chris is also a skilled project manager with a robust history leading multi-disciplinary engineering teams and delivering successful projects. Previous to his role with Li-Cycle, he spent time at Hatch as a Senior Engineer and Technology Commercialization Portfolio Manager; he is also the Founder and Managing Director of Biederman Engineering.

At Li-Cycle, Chris’ portfolio includes the management of the company’s intellectual property portfolio, the commercialization of intellectual property, and oversight of capital projects. He also provides technical leadership for the organization.

A native of Hamilton, Canada, Chris is a graduate of the University of Waterloo’s Chemical Engineering program and is a registered engineer with the Professional Engineers of Ontario.

Craig Cunningham is Li-Cycle’s Chief Financial Officer. In this role, Criag is responsible for leading the finance function to support the company’s operations and long-term growth plans. Craig has extensive background in executive level leadership and brings more than 17 years of accounting, finance, operational, and capital markets experience.

Craig was previously Chief Financial Officer at Electra Battery Materials where he was a key contributor to the company’s strategy and provided key financial oversight and controls to major projects.

Prior to joining Electra, Craig was Vice President and Regional Financial Officer at Kinross Gold where he oversaw finance, information technology, supply chain and logistics, and administration functions in Russia.

Craig has a Bachelor of Accounting from Brock University and received an MBA from Ivey Business School at Western University in Canada. He is a Chartered Public Accountant and a Chartered Accountant.

Carl DeLuca is Li-Cycle’s General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.

With nearly 25 years of legal and public company experience, Carl leads Li-Cycle’s legal and regulatory functions in support of the company’s global expansion plans. He also manages the organization’s corporate governance processes through the Board and its committees.

Prior to joining Li-Cycle, Carl served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for gold producer Detour Gold Corporation, where he facilitated the company’s stabilization, resulting in a 95% stock price increase.

Carl also held various roles at Vale Canada Limited, including Head of Legal for North American Operations and M&A/Strategic Projects while there, he played a key role in the company’s gold streaming transactions on Vale’s copper mine in Brazil, delivering $1.7 billion in aggregate proceeds.

Carl, a barrister and solicitor, was born and raised in Ontario, and currently calls Toronto home. He holds his LL.B. from the University of Windsor, where he received the R.L. Deshield Award for having achieved the second highest standing in his graduating class, and holds an H.B.A and a B.A. in History and French from The University of Western Ontario.

Dawei Li is Li-Cycle’s Chief Commercial Officer.

Dawei has been with Li-Cycle since July 2021 and leads Li-Cycle’s global commercial function, consolidating the global team’s strategy and approach to continue building strong partnerships with key battery market

players. He previously led Li-Cycle’s Asia-Pacific region and brings 20 years of experience in strategy, business development and leading growth in untapped markets to drive robust performance.

Before joining Li-Cycle, Dawei served as the Global Business Director for battery-grade lithium carbonate at the Albemarle Corporation where he developed growth strategy and executed on business development plans and commercial negotiations. He has also held roles at Eastman Chemical Company, where he managed global product lines, led growth initiatives, and launched efforts to generate demand for existing products while commercializing novel ones. Dawei began his career in Shanghai, China working for PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Dawei holds a BBA in Marketing from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

As Chief Operating Officer, Conor Spollen is responsible for overseeing Li-Cycle’s global Spoke operations, including driving safety, productivity, and cost-efficiency. In addition to overseeing our Spoke operations, following the completion of the technical and economic review of the Rochester Hub project, he will be responsible for project delivery and the planned operation of the Rochester Hub. Conor first joined Li-Cycle in January 2022 as SVP, Project Delivery, and has played a key role in the development of the Rochester Hub project.

Conor has more than 33 years of international mining and metallurgical experience, having served in global leadership roles in a number of companies, including Vale Canada, where he was, among other roles, Chief Operating Officer for the company’s base metals operating mines and processing facilities in Canada, UK, China and Japan.

Conor is a Professional Engineer, a Chartered Engineer, and sat on the Board of the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI). He is on the panel of experts for Geoscience Ireland.

Conor holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Minerals Engineering from Exeter University in England and received an MBA from Chifley School of Business at Torrens University Australia.

Jacqueline Dedo has more than 40 years of experience across a variety of functions and verticals in the automotive industry, with a focus on strategy development and creating customer value. She is the co-founder of Aware Mobility, LLC.  She previously served as President of the Piston Group and Chief Strategy and Supply Chain Officer for Dana Holding Corp. (NYSE: DAN).

Ms. Dedo has also previously held various leadership positions at The Timken Company (NYSE: TKR), Motorola (NYSE:MSI), and Robert Bosch Corporation. Ms. Dedo currently serves on the board of directors of Cadillac Products Automotive Company, a private, internationally-recognized leader in the plastics converting industry; Workhorse Group Inc. (Nasdaq: WKHS), an American technology company focused on pioneering the transition to zero-emission commercial vehicles; Carbon Revolution plc (Nasdaq: CREV), a leading global manufacturer of lightweight advanced technology carbon fiber wheels; and Ballard Power Systems (Nasdaq: BLDP), a leading global provider of innovative clean energy fuel cell solutions. Ms. Dedo earned her Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan.

She has been involved in numerous charitable organizations and has been honored on multiple occasions by Automotive News as one of the ‘Top 100 Leading Women in the Automotive Industry.’

Ajay Kochhar is the President, CEO and co-founder of Li-Cycle.

In this role, Ajay provides strategic oversight and leadership for Li-Cycle’s operations, commercial and financing activities, as well as shared services.

Before founding Li-Cycle, Ajay gained extensive technology and project development experience through a series of progressive roles within Hatch’s industrial cleantech and advisory practices. While working at Hatch, he developed in-depth, engineering and project management experience through clean technology development in the lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, gold, lead, zinc, molybdenum, and rare earth metals industries. He has demonstrated technical expertise that spans the entire project lifecycle, from conceptual and pre-feasibility studies to construction and commissioning.

Born and raised in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, Ajay comes from entrepreneurial roots, having gained experience from a young age via a family business.

Ajay is a graduate of the University of Toronto and holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc) in Chemical Engineering.

Susan Alban currently serves as the Chief People Officer and an Operating Partner at Renegade Partners, where she supports the firm’s portfolio companies across all areas of Human Resources. Ms. Alban brings deep expertise in operations and product, especially around launches.

Previously, Ms. Alban was the VP of People at Zume, a General Manager at Uber, as well as a group product manager at eBay, working in partnership with PayPal to drive improvements across eBay’s e-commerce funnel. Ms. Alban started her career at McKinsey & Company, where she was a management consultant for healthcare and consumer products businesses, with a focus on M&A and growth. After McKinsey, she joined CHB Capital Partners, a middle market private equity firm, where she invested and worked closely with CHB’s portfolio companies.

Ms. Alban was nominated by Peridot Acquisition Sponsor, LLC as one of its two nominees for election to the Board and is expected to be designated as an independent director. In addition to bringing skills and expertise in human resources and executive compensation matters, Ms. Alban’s addition to the Board is expected to enhance the balance of both independence and gender-diversity on the Board.

Ms. Alban has a degree in Economics from Duke University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Diane Pearse currently serves on the board of MSA Safety, Inc., a manufacturer, and supplier of safety products to protect workers and facility infrastructures in a variety of industries, and as a director of Basic American Foods, Inc., a privately held food manufacturing company. Ms. Pearse was previously a C-Suite executive, having held CEO, COO, and CFO roles for several companies. She retired as CEO and President of Hickory Farms, LLC, a multi-channel food products retailer, in January 2022.

Her other roles have included COO and Executive Vice President of Finance for Garrett Brands, a privately held consumer products company; Senior Vice President of Finance and Operations at Redbox Entertainment, Inc., a video entertainment, and distribution company; and CFO of Crate and Barrel, a home furnishings retailer. Her financial expertise was developed through progressive roles within the finance functions of Amoco Corporation and BP, leading multinational oil and gas companies.

Ms. Pearse currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council for DePaul University’s Driehaus College of Business and on the board of directors of Uniting Voices Chicago, a not-for-profit organization that supports music education. Ms. Pearse was included in Crain’s 2019 Notable Women Executives over 50 and in Women Inc. Magazine’s 2019 Most Influential Corporate Directors.

She is a member of The Chicago Network and a member of The Women Corporate Directors Foundation. Ms. Pearse graduated Bronze Tablet from the University of Illinois-Urbana with a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy, and obtained an MBA in Finance, with honours, from DePaul University.

Scott Prochazka is a director of Li-Cycle. He most recently served as a director of Peridot Acquisition Corp. Prior to that, Mr. Prochazka was the President and Chief Executive Officer and a director of CenterPoint Energy, an NYSE-listed, Fortune 500 energy delivery company with electric transmission and distribution, power generation and natural gas distribution operations (“CenterPoint”) from January 1, 2014 to February 20, 2020. Prior to that role, Mr. Prochazka held several positions at CenterPoint since 2011, including Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President and Division President, Electric Operations. Currently, Mr. Prochazka is currently a director of Peridot Acquisition Corp. II. Mr. Prochazka received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas in Austin.

Kunal Sinha joined as Director in June 2022. Mr. Sinha has been with Glencore since 2012 and currently serves as Glencore’s Head of Recycling. Prior to his current role, Mr. Sinha was the CEO of Glencore’s North American Sulfuric Acid business. Prior to joining Glencore, he worked for six years in Management Consulting at ZS Associates. Mr. Sinha holds an MBA from the London Business School, an M.S. in Systems and Entrepreneurial Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur.

Anthony has over 28 years of private and public corporate experience in numerous high-growth industries, spanning technology, media and telecoms, natural resources and specialty chemicals, and more recently the energy transition sectors, in particular the electric vehicle and lithium battery value chain. His roles have been predominantly in senior management, with a focus on strategy and development, M&A and corporate finance internationally – he has managed businesses and operations across four continents spanning Greater China and Asia region, Australia, North and South America.

Anthony has been a Board Director of Li-Cycle Corp. since 2019 and is also currently Chair of the Health Safety Environmental and Sustainability Committee. He is the former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Resources, where he served on the Board for 11 years and grew the company following its merger with Orocobre in 2021 to create Allkem to become one of the Top 5 lithium producers globally. He is also a Board Director of Li-Metal (CSE: LIM), a developer of lithium metal and lithium metal anode technologies for next-generation lithium solid-state batteries, as well as a Senior Advisor to Sicona Battery Technologies, a leading developer of silicon-composite materials for next-generation lithium battery anode technologies, a Strategic Advisor to Critical Resources (ASX: CRR) a natural resources company focused on developing lithium and other critical metals projects in Ontario Canada and Novalith Technologies, a developer of direct lithium extraction technologies.

Aside from his industry roles, Anthony is also a Senior Advisor to EMR Capital (a global natural resources investment group) portfolio of companies, with whom he is focused on upstream through to mid and downstream investments in the energy transition sector and was an Operating Partner with the Global Private Equity Group of Franklin Templeton (NYSE: BEN), a global asset management organization.

Mark Wellings is a finance professional with over 30 years international experience in both the mining industry and mining finance sector. Mark initially worked in the mining industry both in Canada and Australia in exploration, development and production capacities. He then joined the investment dealer GMP Securities L.P. where he co-founded the firm’s corporate finance mining practice. During over 18 years at GMP, Mark was responsible for, and advised on, some of the Canadian mining industry’s largest transactions, both in equity financing and M&A. Since then he has been appointed to several public and private Board of Director’s and has spent the last few years at Infor Financial Inc. advising and raising capital for several companies.

Mr. Wellings is a Professional Engineer and holds a Master of Business Administration degree and a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Geological Engineering.