Mark Leigh Bouris is an Australian businessman who is best known as the founder and chairman of 'Wizard Home Loans', Australia's second largest non-bank

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

lender behind Aussie Home Loans. He is now the chairman of Yellow Brick Road, a business which he founded in 2007. Bouris was the host of ''

The Celebrity Apprentice Australia ''The Celebrity Apprentice Australia'' is an Australian reality television series which aired on the Nine Network. Based on NBC's ''The Apprentice'', it first aired on 24 October 2011 and originally featured Mark Bouris, the founder and chairm ...

'' from 2011 to 2015. He has also hosted ''

The Apprentice Australia ''The Apprentice Australia'' was an Australian reality television series which aired on the Nine Network. It was based on NBC's ''The Apprentice''. It first aired on 28 September 2009 and last aired on 23 November 2009, and features Mark Bouri ...

'' and ''The Mentor'', and has written numerous books and appeared on various podcasts.

Background

Mark Bouris was born in

Punchbowl, New South Wales Punchbowl is a suburb south west of Sydney, west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. At the , Punchbowl had a population of 20,23 ...

, to a Greek father of the

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...

faith and an Irish mother of the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

faith. and lived in Punchbowl until the age of 18. Bouris attended the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

Business career

Wizard Home Loans was founded by Bouris in 1996 and was sold to GE Money in 2004 for $500 million. Subsequently, Wizard was sold by GE to competitor, Aussie Home Loans, for a fraction of the $500 million during the midst of the

Global Financial Crisis Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

in December 2008.

Current business

On 18 June 2009, Bouris became the chairman of TZ Limited. Bouris wrote "I am a true believer in TZ, its technology, its people and now its working rhythms. I am excited about the future and I am privileged to be involved in what I consider to be an extraordinarily bright future for this company." He currently is the chairman of Yellow Brick Road which is involved in finance planning, finance advice, wealth management and home loans. He is a board member and supporter of the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won fifteen Ne ...

rugby league team, in the Australian

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

. In August 2011, Bouris was appointed as non-executive chairman of Anteo Diagnostics, an Australian biotechnology company that provides innovative medical diagnostic technologies. He is also a Non-Executive Chairman of Serena Resources Limited, an Australian public resources company focused on developing copper opportunities in Chile.

Awards

Bouris first entered the

BRW Rich 200 The ''Financial Review Rich List'', formerly known as the ''BRW Rich 200'', is a list of Australia's two hundred wealthiest individuals and families, ranked by personal net worth published annually in ''The Australian Financial Review Magazin ...

list in 2005 and in 2007, he was included on the list for the second time. In 2012, Mark Bouris was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Business degree (Hon.D.Bus.) from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree (Hon.D.Litt.) from the now Western Sydney University (WSU). At the 2015 Australia Day Honours, Bouris was appointed a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gov ...

for significant service to the finance industry, particularly the home loan mortgage sector, to education, and to charitable organisations.

Media personality

Bouris has been well known by Australians for his personal appearance in Wizard Home Loan commercials during the late 1990s and early 21st century. He has also been well known by the Greek community because he has

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

heritage. Based on his high media profile, on 8 June 2009, Bouris was named as the host of the Australian version of ''

The Apprentice ''The Apprentice'' is a reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States. Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with various professional backg ...

'' to air on the Nine Network, the series aired in 2009 but only remained on air for one season.Mark Bouris casts his spell on The Apprentice
/ref> Bouris remained as host when the spin-off series ''

'' premiered in October 2011. The Celebrity Apprentice was a huge success, and often rated within the top 5 television programs of the day. In November 2011, the Nine Network announced that they had renewed the series for a second season, which began airing in April 2012 and featured imported celebrity

David Hasselhoff David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952), nicknamed "The Hoff", is an American actor, singer, and television personality. He has set a Guinness World Record as the most watched man on TV. Hasselhoff first gained recognition on ''The You ...

. As well as regular media appearances, Bouris hosts ''The Mentor'', a weekly podcast produced and distributed through the PodcastOne network. In 2017, it was announced Mark Bouris would be turning the podcast into a reality television show.

References

External links

Australian Economic Outlook on Property Club Conference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouris, Mark Living people Australian billionaires Australian people of Greek descent Australian people of Irish descent Australian company founders Australian chief executives Members of the Order of Australia Businesspeople from Sydney Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Mortgage industry of Australia