i3 Energy plc announced the appointment of John Festival as Non-Executive Chairman of i3's Board of Directors, effective immediately. Linda Beal, who has seen the company through a period of transformational growth as Interim Chairperson, remains as a Non-Executive Director with the company and will focus on her roles as chair of the Audit and Governance Committees. John has been a Non-Executive Director with i3 since its December 2020 acquisition of Toscana Energy Income Corporation, where he had long served as a director.

John is a chemical engineer with 38 years of experience in the oil and gas sector and has a track record of founding, growing and monetizing oil and gas ventures. He is currently the CEO of Broadview Energy and was the President and CEO of Black Pearl Resources Inc. prior to its acquisition by International Petroleum in December 2018 in a stock and debt transaction valued at USD 715 million. He was previously the founder and President of BlackRock Ventures Inc. which was established in 2001 and sold to Shell Canada for CAD 2.4 billion in 2006.

He graduated in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan.