Below you can find biographical details on all of our key personnel, as well as meet some of our other team members.
-
Ian Telfer
Chairman
Ian Telfer was elected Chairman of the World Gold Council in September 2010. He is also Chairman of Goldcorp and has been a senior executive in the gold mining industry for the past 25 years.
During this time Ian financed, developed and operated mines in 12 countries throughout the Americas, Asia and Australia.
He served as a director and officer of a number of mining companies, including Lihir Gold, TVX Gold and Goldcorp's predecessor, Wheaton River Minerals.
Ian is a member of the Canadian institute of Chartered Accountants and holds a BA from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the University of Ottawa.
Leadership Team profiles
-
Aram Shishmanian
Chief Executive Officer
Aram was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the World Gold Council with effect January 2009.
Aram has over 30 years experience as a management consultant. He has worked with many leading financial institutions, at board and senior executive levels, and brings extensive international experience to the role of CEO.
During 27 years at Accenture, Aram held a number of leadership roles, including Global Managing Partner of the financial markets industry practice, before becoming a senior partner.
Subsequently, he was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Resolution plc, the Senior Non-Executive Director of Victoria plc, a Non-Executive Director of a Swiss based asset-management company and several other companies. Prior to joining the World Gold Council he was an independent member of the International Executive of Hogan Lovells LLP, one of the leading global law firms. He holds a BA in Economics and an MBA.
-
Brenda Bates
Managing Director, Corporate Communications
Brenda Bates joined the World Gold Council in June 2011. As Managing Director of Corporate Communications, she is responsible for the strategic development and management of the World Gold Council’s communications across all markets.
Prior to her appointment to the World Gold Council, Mrs Bates was Director of Communications at BPP, University College of Professional Education. At BPP she was responsible for the team which delivered a multi-channel communications strategy that successfully promoted BPP as the first private for profit university to be awarded university college status in the UK.
Previously Mrs Bates worked as an independent consultant specialising in asset management and professional services firms. She also ran the specialist financial PR firm Mainland PR. Her in house corporate communications expertise and experience was gained at Aon, where Mrs Bates was member of the board. Mrs Bates established the corporate communications function at Aon and was responsible for all aspects of brand, corporate PR, marketing and communications. Prior to Aon, Mrs. Bates was a Managing Director at the communications consultancy, Gavin Anderson & Company, working with a range of corporate and financial clients.
-
Albert L. H. Cheng
Managing Director, Far East
Albert Cheng joined the World Gold Council in 1993 and became Managing Director, Far East, in 2003. His role includes responsibility for all operations in the region.
During his early career in the 1980’s, Albert was with Dentsu, Young and Rubicam, Hong Kong, as a Dentsu Account Director.
He subsequently worked for the Royal Canadian Mint, where he was responsible for marketing the Maple Leaf family of bullion products. He helped build the marketing and distribution network in Asia Pacific for the International Olympic Committee, Centennial Coin Programme.
A member of CAM in the UK, Albert holds a degree in Business Administration with a major in marketing from the Chinese University in Hong Kong.
-
Jeanette Gooding
Managing Director, Operations
Jeanette joined the World Gold Council in May 2009 as Director, Operations. Her responsibilities include human resources, infrastructure, knowledge management, IT services and business policies.
Jeanette has operated in a variety of environments, primarily in the financial services industry. She has experience in developing teams, strategy implementation and capability development.
Prior to joining the World Gold Council , Jeanette was Head of HR at GSA Capital, a spin-off from Deutsche Bank. Other roles included senior positions at Lehman Brothers and Prudential Banking (Egg).
-
Marcus Grubb
Managing Director, Investment
Marcus Grubb joined the World Gold Council in June 2008. His key role is to be the gold strategist for the World Gold Council, responsible for the organisation’s view of all aspects of the gold market and to articulate it to investors of all types, from private wealth to institutional and sovereign investors worldwide. Marcus also acts as the global spokesperson, speaking at high profile forums and events worldwide. Lastly, he is responsible for managing partner relationships in investment, such as ETF Securities and BullionVault.
Marcus has worked in investment banking and capital markets for 20 years with experience in management, sales, trading, research and product origination. He was the Global Head of Equities at Rabobank and a Board member, where he built and managed the global equities and equity derivatives business. Marcus was the founder Chief Executive of Swapstream, the largest inter-bank exchange for interest rate swaps, sold to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 2006. During the mid-1990s, Marcus was a top-rated Senior Investment Strategist running part of research at Union Bank of Switzerland and Salomon Brothers and began his career in Eurobond and swap origination at JP Morgan in the 1980’s. Marcus graduated in 1983 from Oxford University with top first class honours in Modern History & Economics.
-
David Lamb
Managing Director, Jewellery
David Lamb joined the World Gold Council in July 2010. David has overall responsibility for the strategic development of the gold jewellery market worldwide with a particular focus in building the premium market in the US.
Prior to his appointment to the World Gold Council, David was an Executive Director of the Diamond Trading Company (DTC), the sales and marketing arm of De Beers, as Worldwide Marketing Director and subsequently Chief Strategy Officer. There he was widely credited with significantly increasing consumer demand for diamond jewellery, principally through a series of powerful global innovations such as the Trilogy concept (“For your past, your present, your future”), which he devised.
Previously David spent more than 20 years at leading international advertising agencies, notably JWT Worldwide where he was Executive Vice President and held various leadership positions including Head of Worldwide Account Planning and latterly Head of Multinational Clients.
-
Robin Lee
Chief Financial Officer
Robin joined the World Gold Council in 2010 as Chief Financial Officer. He carries responsibility for financial reporting and control, financial planning, audit, treasury operations, tax, risk management and company secretariat.
Robin was previously Senior Vice President Finance for Millennium & Copthorne Hotels PLC, a UK FTSE-250 group, where he supported the CEO in corporate strategy, driving profitability and shareholder value. He also spent four years as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, focusing on corporate finance and corporate strategy.
Previously, Robin was head of research and strategy at the Securities Commission in Malaysia where he supported the establishment of the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board. Robin qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in London, having graduated from Oxford University in 1990 with a degree in Classics.
-
Somasundaram PR
Managing Director, India
Somasundaram PR joined the World Gold Council in January 2013, as Managing Director, India. Based in Mumbai, Som is responsible for leading the World Gold Council's activities across the Indian gold market.
Som has over 27 years' experience across diverse industries including the FMCG and banking sectors. Prior to joining the World Gold Council, Som was the Chief Executive Officer of Lakshmi Vilas Bank, a private sector bank. Before that, he was part of Standard Chartered Bank in India for over eight years in various senior roles before taking on the role of Managing Director of Standard Chartered – STCI Capital Markets, the securities arm of Standard Chartered Bank. Previously, Som had spent over 13 years with Hindustan Unilever (HUL) in a variety of roles, as well as working at Tata Consultancy Services. He is also a qualified Chartered Accountant.
-
Jason Toussaint
Chief Executive Officer, World Gold Trust Services
Jason is Managing Director of the Investment sector and CEO of World Gold Trust Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of the World Gold Council and the Sponsor of the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD). Jason leads the investment and product development activities in the gold ETF market including initiatives focused on expanding the use of gold in modern portfolio construction. He is also responsible for leading the global operations, sales, and marketing of GLD, the world’s largest gold ETF with over $70b in assets under management.
Jason has worked in the investment industry for more than 20 years with experience in portfolio management, quantitative strategy, and business development. He has extensive international experience and has managed businesses in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Prior to joining World Gold Council, he was Senior Vice President and Senior Investment Strategist at Northern Trust Global Investments (NTGI) in London where he advised large sovereign wealth funds on asset allocation strategies.
Jason previously was based in Hong Kong, where he headed the Asia Pacific region for Morgan Stanley Capital International. He was also a Fixed Income Portfolio Manager at JP Morgan Investment Management in New York.
Jason received a BS in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.