Update on CEO Recruitment and Interim CEO

Dear Stakeholder,

Following on from the announcement of the 24 August 2020, where the founder and visionary of Tellus, Mr Duncan van der Merwe, announced his resignation as the Group’s Managing Director after eleven years with the company, Tellus’ Board has commenced an internal and external search to recruit Duncan’s successor. The process is progressing well and we are in discussion with a number of high-quality candidates.

As it is unlikely that the new CEO will be in place by the time of Duncan’s departure following the AGM on the 17th November 2020, I have the pleasure to announce that the board is appointing Nate Smith, our current General Counsel and Company Secretary, as Interim CEO. Nate’s appointment will be effective from the 17th November.

Please join me in wishing Nate all the best in the role. Nate’s bio is below.

Phil Garling

Chairman

Nate is an experienced executive having led teams at both large, established multinational entities, as well as early-stage ventures. Nate’s career has been truly global – having managed dynamic teams and deals on six continents and in more than 60 countries. Nate joined Tellus in June 2019 as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, and immediately had a large impact by:

• Assisting the MD in the implementation of the long-term commercial strategy of Tellus as agreed in the board approved business plan.
• Helping to develop, maintain and oversee a consistent Health, Safety, Environment Quality and Compliance culture across the company and especially the interface between the Board and company.
• Building ongoing host community and key stakeholder support in the local communities in which we operate.
• Providing leadership across multiple functions, including finalising Sandy Ridge’s bespoke and world class financial assurance and insurance framework.
• Working with the team to continuously improve the standard of Tellus’ current risk, compliance and governance framework.
• Driving the continued growth of the organisation towards operations, which includes the development of commercial contracts and partnerships with our stakeholders (clients, logistics businesses, vendors, etc.).
• Working with the team to put our clients first.
• Partnering with the MD and CFO in raising new capital and building relationships with current and new financiers.
• Building strong relationships with our major clients and driving positive commercial outcomes in negotiations of key agreements.
• Helping the MD develop the skills of the executive leadership team in line with continued business growth, and further strengthening Tellus’ organisational capability, culture, and teams.

Nate will help ensure continuity and inspiration as the business transitions away from the founder MD.

Prior to joining Tellus, Nate was a Vice President for the global shipping giant, UPS, in Atlanta (USA), where he was a trusted advisor of senior executives and head lawyer overseeing a large portfolio of vital business functions, including Global Mergers and Acquisitions, procurement, compliance, certain key customer contracts (including Amazon), Corporate Strategy, UPS’s venture capital fund, and UPS’s Emerging Markets business unit. Nate also was the acting corporate secretary and senior legal counsel for Ware2Go, a technology and logistics venture backed by BCG Digital Ventures.

Prior to UPS, Nate worked for the global law firms of Sullivan & Cromwell (in Sydney and the U.S.) and Latham & Watkins (in London and the U.S.), focusing on corporate matters, particularly finance, governance and securities. He was a business strategy consultant for IBM prior to attending law school.

Nate holds a Juris Doctor with High Honours from Emory Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Affairs with Distinction from the University of Virginia and is a former adjunct professor on international financial transactions at Emory Law School.

Tellus Holdings Ltd (“Tellus”) mission is to contribute towards a safer and cleaner Australia by developing a portfolio of geological repositories that provide waste storage, recycling, recovery, permanent isolation services and related commodity by-products.

Visit our project website – www.tellusholdings.com

Phone us at: +61 (0)2 8257 3395

E-mail us at: info@tellusholdings.com