Board of Directors

MetSoc Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is composed of MetSoc members and volunteers who are dedicated to supporting the society by assisting in the planning of community activities, webinars, events and conferences.

The Board is made up of three groups:

Executive Board

The Executive Board consists of the Immediate Past President, President, Vice-Presidents, Treasurer and Secretary.

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Technical Sections

The Technical Sections represent the technical diversity of the metals, minerals and materials community.

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Standing Committees

These committees are dedicated to the various services of the society such as membership, students, EDI, publications, etc.

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MetSoc Executive Board

Julie Lévesque

Immediate Past President​

R&D project manager, Centre de métallurgie du Québec

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Lukas Bichler

Chair

Professor, University of British Columbia

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Niels Verbaan

1st Vice-Chair

Verbaan Consulting Inc.

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Sina Mostaghel

2nd Vice-Chair

Global Vice President of Process Technology, AtkinsRéalis

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Peter Kondos

3rd Vice-President

YaKum Consulting Inc

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Greg Richards

Treasurer

Teck Metals, Retired

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Matt Boulby

Matt Boulby

Secretary

The Metals Company

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MetSoc Technical Section Chairs

Brittany MacKinnon

Sustainability

Process Engineer-Pyrometallurgy, Hatch

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Georgios Kolliopoulos

Hydrometallurgy

Laval University

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Abdallah Elsayed

Light Metals

Professor, University of Guelph

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Ibrahim Ogunsanya

Materials

University of Toronto

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Jean-François Boulanger

Minerals Science & Engineering

Professor, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue

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Leili Tafaghodi

Pyrometallurgy

Associate Professor, McMaster University

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MetSoc Standing Committee Chairs

Julie Lévesque

Finance & Strategy

Centre de métallurgie du Québec

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Engin Ozberk

Historical Metallurgy

CIM Fellow

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Ahmet Deniz Baş

Publications

Associate Professor at MSKU, Turkey

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Sidney Omelon

Student Activities

Associate Professor, McGill University

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Sheida Sarafan

Sheida Sarafan

Membership Services

National Research Council

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Fateh Fazeli

Iron & Steel Special Committee

National Research Council

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Julie Lévesque is an R&D project manager at Quebec Metallurgy Center (CMQ), where she is the leader of the mechanical forming axis. She has close to 15 years of experience in the optimization of forming processes in collaboration with industries in the automotive, aerospace and packaging industry, amongst others.

Julie has been involved in MetSoc since 2017 as the Chair of the Light Metals technical section. She was the chair of the Light Metal Technology – Applications for the Transportation Industry at COM 2018 and a co-chair of other Light Metals symposiums at COM in 2019 and 2020. She is also active in her community, being a Women Ambassador of the Profession for the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec (Quebec Professional Engineers order).

Dr. Lukas Bichler received his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering (specializing in Manufacturing, Materials and Solid Mechanics) from Ryerson University, Toronto. Upon graduation, he received NSERC-Postdoctoral fellowship, tenured at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto. 

RESEARCH SUMMARY: Advanced characterization of materials; New alloy development; Manufacturing processes 

COURSES & TEACHING: Manufacturing processes; Fundamental and advanced topics in materials science; Professional development (law and ethics for engineers)

Director, Technical Services (Hydrometallurgy), Metallurgy and Consulting​, SGS 

Niels Verbaan has over 20 years’ experience in the Minerals Industry. Having earned Master’s degrees in Raw Materials Processing (Delft University, The Netherlands) and Hydrometallurgy (McGill University), Niels started his career at Lakefield Research (now SGS) in 2000 as a Project Metallurgist.  In 2003-2004 he moved to Belgium and worked as an R&D Manager at Hydrometal, where he was responsible for evaluating new raw materials into the hydrometallurgical recycling facility.  He returned to Canada and re-joined SGS in 2004, and via various roles (Senior Metallurgist, Group Leader Hydrometallurgy, Principal Metallurgist, Technical & BD manager) settled into his current role as Director, Technical Services (Hydrometallurgy), Metallurgy & Consulting. In this role, he provides leadership and advice to SGS customers, SGS management, SGS global network of operations and sales teams on the technical aspects of SGS services involving hydrometallurgy of ores, concentrates and secondary feed streams for new and existing markets and commodities.  ​ 

Niels has authored or co-authored well over 40 technical publications and two patents related to the processing of critical materials. He has chaired biannual symposia on Processing of Critical Materials since 2014 and is currently chair for the “Joe Ferron Memorial Symposium – Processing of Critical Materials” as part of COM2024 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.​ 

Niels’ areas of expertise include general metallurgical process development, management of complex hydrometallurgical pilot plants, and data analyses and presentation to clients.  He offers expertise in a wide range of commodities, with a strong focus on rare earth elements, scandium, nickel, cobalt, vanadium, niobium and minor metals.​ 

Dr. Mostaghel holds a Ph.D. in Process Metallurgy from Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. He began his career at Boliden’s Rönnskär Smelter, then worked as a Pyrometallurgist at Hatch in Toronto before leading Pyromet RD&I at Aurubis in Germany. He now oversees mineral processing, hydro-, and pyrometallurgy groups at AtkinsRéalis. An active MetSoc member since 2012, Sina has held several leadership roles and contributed to organizing COM and Extraction symposia. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto.
He holds 5 patents, has published 50+ papers, and received multiple international awards, including the TMS EPD/LMD Award (2021), MetSoc Brimacombe Award (2017), and IOM3 Billiton Gold Medal (2014 & 2016).

Peter’s career has been devoted to transforming organizations through innovation and delivering highly effective technology solutions at Barrick Gold, Inco (Vale), and Noranda (Glencore). His ability to adapt to different working environments, collaborate effectively with teams, and develop long-term roadmaps has helped create sustainable, long-term value.

Professional Experience

  • Founder and CEO, YaKum Solutions, 2018–present
  • Barrick Gold Corporation, 2004–2018
  • Inco (Vale), 2002–2004
  • Copper Powders Corporation, 2001–2002
  • Noranda Technology Centre, 1996–2001
  • CANMET, 1989–1996

Startup Involvement

Peter has been involved with several startups and innovation organizations since 2021:

  • Creative Destruction Lab
  • Cyclic Materials — Board of Directors member
  • Dundee Sustainable Technologies
  • Ilios Hydrogen
  • Mining3, Australia

Contributions to MetSoc

  • Member of symposium organizing committees, including WALSIM
  • Contributor to numerous MetSoc meetings since 1990

Greg Richards graduated in metallurgical engineering from the University of British Columbia. He continued with the department, teaching process metallurgy and conducting research in non-ferrous pyrometallurgy. He later moved to Cominco Research, working in their metallurgical research group, and then to the technical services department of Trail Operations, Teck Metals Ltd. He recently retired from his position as superintendent of knowledge management, responsible for developing systems for the capture and transfer of critical business knowledge. He has served as a board member of the Metallurgy and Materials Society of CIM since 2007.

Matt ​Boulby currently ​serves as an ​onshore processing ​engineer ​for ​The Metals ​Company, ​a company ​working to commercialize the ​collection of ​deep-sea polymetallic ​nodules from ​the Pacific Ocean ​for recovery ​of ​nickel, ​copper, ​cobalt and manganese. He ​has ​been ​in this ​role since ​2020 and ​has ​been ​involved in the ​selection, ​development ​and ​multi-scale ​testing of the company’s custom ​flowsheet ​which uses ​conventional nickel processing technologies comprising both pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. Prior to ​serving ​as the secretary of MetSoc, ​he ​has ​been ​involved ​with the pyrometallurgical technical ​section as the Vice ​Chair ​(Aug ​2025-present), ​Awards ​Chair ​(Aug ​2023-Aug ​2025) and was ​the Emerging ​Professional ​in ​Pyrometallurgy in ​2022.