There's only one term that properly characterizes Kevin Bambrough: rock star.

Enthusiastic, knowledgeable, intensely focused, industrious – he's all of these, but he also has that extra something that's propelled him ever higher in the business, and to the top of our list. And despite his spectacular early achievements, we'd bet he's just getting started.

Kevin began as a research analyst at Sprott Asset Management in 2002, after five years as a Microsoft systems engineer. Within four years, he had become their market strategist, a noteworthy achievement in itself, given the Sprott organization's long history of very timely market predictions.

Remarkably, Kevin is a self-educated business entrepreneur. "At an early age, my father explained the need to understand rather than memorize, as memorization is not learning," Kevin says. "He guided me to acquire practical knowledge that was both necessary and not easily forgotten. Like many parents, he cautioned me that 'money does not grow on trees,' and that one day, I would realize its value. Ironically, this led me to study the history of money and conclude that our money is accelerating on a path towards worthlessness. Since then, I have tried to focus on what will be valued next."

His independent study of financial-market history led him to successfully transition from working and investing in the technology sector during the ‘90s, to shorting Nasdaq stocks as the market peaked, to investing in the resource sector at the turn of the century. Great calls one and all.

Working alongside investing legend Eric Sprott, he helped Sprott funds make some incredible scores in the coal and uranium mining sectors, even as he continued to devote a significant amount of his time to examining global economic activity, geopolitics, and all commodity markets to find new trends and early investment opportunities.

In 2007, with Eric's encouragement, Kevin founded Sprott Consulting and concurrently launched the Sprott Resource Corp. as its president and CEO. With his knowledge of, and experience in, a diverse variety of industries, Kevin proceeded to lead Sprott Resource Corp. through a series of strategic acquisitions and disposals. Chief among them: a C$55 million investment into PBS Coal, which he later turned around and sold for a C$185 million profit!

Among his other projects is One Earth Farms Corp., which he conceived and financed with C$2.7 million of Sprott Resource capital. Given a savvy partnership forged with Canada's First Nation communities, and strategic relationships with major agriculture industry players, this venture has the potential to grow into one of the largest corporate farms in the world.

In just over two years, Sprott Resource Corp's market capitalization grew from C$15 million to over C$425 million. Kevin was the driving force behind that success, and under his stewardship Sprott Resource is nurturing a myriad of unique investments. It appears well-positioned to continue to deliver the goods.

Eric Sprott recently appointed Kevin president of Sprott Inc., where he will oversee Sprott Asset Management, Sprott Private Wealth, and Sprott Consulting, as well as continue to head up Sprott Resource Corp. A big job. But Eric is confident that Kevin has the vision and ability to lead the firm into the future, following the investment philosophy that has made the Sprott family of companies such a success.

While Eric Sprott is renowned as one of Canada's premier stock pickers, his greatest pick of all may well prove to be Kevin Bambrough.