Navjeet Singh "Bob" Dhillon is a Canadian property owner and businessman.

Early life and education

His family comes from Tallewal in the district of Barnala

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

. This family belongs to

Dhillon Dhillon ( pronunciation: �i˨llõː is a tribe of Jats found in the Punjab region. Notable people who bear the name, who may or may not be affiliated with the tribe, include: * Amritpal Singh Dhillon, an Indian-born Canadian singer, rapper, ...

Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...

, His grandfather moved to Hong Kong for business reasons and set-up the North China Shipping Company to carry out trade with Japan. Bob Singh Dhillon was born in Japan in 1965. He is a Punjabi speaker. His family lived in Liberia before settling in Canada in the 1970s. As a small child he was sent back to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

for his schooling. He was educated at

Bishop Cotton School (Shimla) Bishop Cotton School is a boarding school in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. It is one of the oldest boarding schools for boys in Asia, having been founded on 28 July 1859 by Bishop George Edward Lynch Cotton. Bishop Cotton also founded the Bish ...

. After graduating from university, he completed his master's degree (

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

) at

Richard Ivey School of Business Ivey Business School is a constituent unit of the University of Western Ontario, located in London, Ontario, Canada. Ivey offers full-time undergraduate (HBA), MBA, MSc, MFE and PhD programs and also maintains two teaching facilities in Toronto ...

at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

. In 2021, Dhillon obtained his ICD.D designation through the

Rotman School of Management The Joseph L. Rotman School of Management (commonly known as the Rotman School of Management, the Rotman School or just Rotman) is the University of Toronto's graduate business school, located in Downtown Toronto. The University of Toronto has b ...

. Dhillon has also been awarded an honorary doctorate in commerce from

Lakehead University Lakehead University is a public research university with campuses in Thunder Bay and Orillia, Ontario, Canada. Lakehead University, shortened to 'Lakehead U', is non-denominational and provincially supported. It has undergraduate programs, gradua ...

, and an honorary doctorate of laws from the

University of Lethbridge , mottoeng = '' Let there be light'' , type = Public , established = , academic_affiliations = Universities Canada , endowment = $73 million (2019) , chancellor = Charles Wease ...

Business

Dhillon founded Mainstreet Equity Corp in 1997, taking the company public and listing it on the Toronto Stock Exchange under (TSX: MEQ) in 2000. The Canada-based real estate company is the only Sikh-owned company listed on the

Toronto Stock Exchange The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; french: Bourse de Toronto) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in the ...

. Mainstreet owns nearly 16,000 rental units across Western Canada. Dhillon is developing a high-end tourist resort in

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

, a nation for which he is also the honorary consul general to Canada.

Philanthropy

In 2018 he made a $10 million donation to the

– the largest donation in the university's history. The money is being used by the newly named Dhillon School of Business. Through Mainstreet, Dhillon has also provided homes for many refugees, including those fleeing Alberta wildfires in 2016, Afghans fleeing Taliban rule in 2021, and Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion in 2022.

Awards

On the 29th of December 2021, Her Excellency the Right Honorable

Mary Simon Mary Jeannie May Simon (in Inuktitut syllabics: ᒥᐊᓕ ᓴᐃᒪᓐ, iu, script=Latn, Ningiukudluk; born August 21, 1947) is a Canadian civil servant, diplomat, and former broadcaster who has served as the 30th governor general of Canada ...

, the Governor General appointed the Order of Canada to Dhillon. Officers of the Order of Canada (OC) have demonstrated an outstanding level of talent and service to Canadians.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhillon, Bob Singh 1965 births Living people Punjabi people Businesspeople from Calgary Officers of the Order of Canada 21st-century Canadian businesspeople Bishop Cotton School Shimla alumni