Board of Directors

Blaine Froats, Chairman & CEO

Prior to the founding of AEC, Mr. Froats achieved consummate experience in the investment business balanced with extensive working knowledge of owning and operating a number of growing environmentally-focused companies.

Mr. Froats' career in the investment business started in 1958 when he joined A. E. Ames as an intern, completing the Investment Dealers Association Securities Course with the fourth highest mark in Canada (92%).

Subsequent to his tenure at A. E. Ames, he joined the Royal Trust Company as a Personal Investment and Pension Fund Officer where he completed the Harvard University Certified Analyst Course leading him to a CFA degree.

In the ensuing years, he joined Cochran Murray & Company as an Institutional Salesperson and moved on to become a Special Situation Analyst. He quickly progressed and joined the Corporate Finance Department working closely with one of the senior partners.

While at Cochran Murray (now Merrill Lynch), he successfully underwrote Magna International (then Magna Electronics) as well as a host of other major concerns. Magna has since grown to become one of the most diversified automotive suppliers in the world. As a result, he became a director of several publicly traded Canadian companies.

In 1970, he formed his own consulting firm and in 1972, he retired for a one-year sabbatical and sailed with his family throughout the Caribbean. Upon his return, he became involved in plastic reclaiming and invented a plastic/paper separator that he patented worldwide. During that time, he led as CEO of several public companies in both Canada and the United States. Mr. Froats subsequently formed Environmental Products Group (EPG) after inventing a revolutionary plastic formula that he successfully applied to the home molding industry.

As the founder and chairman of AEC, Mr. Froats leads the company as it continues to develop ground-breaking technologies in the energy and environment fields.