Dr. Kevin Telmer, PhD; Executive Director, Artisanal Gold Council Kevin received his PhD from the University of Ottawa in Geochemistry and held a tenured Professorship at the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria from 1999 until 2011 before transitioning to the full-time lead of the Artisanal Gold Council. He started his work in artisanal mining in 1995 in the Brazilian Amazon and in the following 25 years has worked in numerous countries across three continents. He has extensive experience in technical, policy, and business capacities in the field with miners, governments, international institutions, and industry.