Prem Watsa
Founder, chairman, and chief executive of Fairfax Financial Holdings
Introduction:
- (Born 1950 in Hyderabad, India) is the founder, chairman, and chief executive of Fairfax Financial Holdings, based in Toronto, Ontario.
- He has been called the “Canadian Warren Buffett” by some during successful periods of investing.
Education:
- Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet.
- IIT Chennai graduate in chemical engineering (1971).
- MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business of the University of Western Ontario.
Industry profile:
- Member of the Board of Trustees of the The Hospital for Sick Children.
- Member of the Advisory Board for the Richard Ivey School of Business.
- Member of the Board of Directors of the Royal Ontario Museum Foundation.
- Chairman of the Investment Committee of St. Paul’s Anglican Church.
- In June 2009, he was installed as the ninth chancellor of the University of Waterloo.
- On January 22, 2012, it was reported he was to be appointed to BlackBerry handset maker, Research In Motion Ltd.
- On September 23 2013, Blackberry announced that it had signed a letter of intent to be acquired by Prem Watsa led Fairfax Financial Holdings in a $4.7 Billion deal.
- Fairfax Financial Holdings, an insurance-cum-investment company that Watsa founded in 1985, went on to become Canada’s most profitable company in 2008.