Innovation for a Sustainable Future
OUR TEAM
Dr. Victor Lo
Co-founder/Board Chair/Director
Dr. Lo is Professor Emeritus at UBC Civil Engineering and the principal investigator and co-inventor of the MW-AOP. He is one of the leading researchers in biological waste treatment and nutrient recovery from waste organic slurries. With over 40 years of experience, he has developed several new technologies to treat sewage sludge, food and agricultural wastes. The current research team under his supervision, has pioneered the innovative, MW-AOP for application as a commercial technology.
Dr. Don Mavinic
President/CEO/Director
Dr. Mavinic is Professor Emeritus at UBC Civil Engineering. He has extensive research and consulting experience in sludge and biosolids treatment and has headed the nutrient removal and biosolids research team at UBC for decades. He has also been the principal investigator and co-inventor of the struvite recovery technology patented by UBC which has subsequently been adopted by cities across the world. He is the recipient of numerous awards and professional distinctions including, Engineers Canada Gold Medal (2016), Manning Foundation Laureate (2010), NSERC Synergy Awardee (2011) and the Order of Canada (2019).
Dr. Ping H. Liao
Co-founder/Director
Co-founder/co-inventor and Director of the MW-AOP. Dr. Liao’s expertise is anaerobic digestion, nutrient recovery and pilot-scale system design, including 40+ years of experience in R&D, process design, and consulting for agricultural and waste treatment industries. He has been involved in the development of the MW-AOP technology, and the design of an efficient pilot-scale continuous-flow microwave treatment system.
Laurie Fretz
Executive Advisor and Strategist
Laurie Fretz is an accomplished Senior Manager with over 30 years of domestic and international experience with Provincial and Regional Governments, NGO’s and International Organizations. Prior to joining the Boost team, she spent 20 years at Metro Vancouver leading the regional government organization in resource management, land base planning and the development of the Annacis Wastewater Centre creating an integrated approach to wastewater systems and resource recovery. Laurie received her BSc in resource management and subsequently focused her Master’s work on developing global partnerships in the area of innovation and technology development.
