Prem Watsa (born 5 August 1950) is an

Indian-Canadian Indian Canadians are Canadians who have ancestry from India. The terms ''Indo-Canadian'' or ''East Indian'' are sometimes used to avoid confusion with the Indigenous Peoples of Canada. Categorically, Indian Canadians comprise a subgroup of ...

billionaire businessman who is the founder, chairman, and

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Fairfax Financial Holdings Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited is a Canadian financial holding company based in Toronto, Ontario, which is engaged in property, casualty, insurance and reinsurance, investment management, and insurance claims management. The company operate ...

, based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. He has been called the "Canadian

Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net ...

." He was awarded the fourth highest civilian award of India,

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

, in January 2020.

Early life and education

Watsa was born in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

in a family of

Roman catholic brahmin Roman Catholic Brahmin (IAST ''Bamonns'' in Romi Konkani, ''ಬಾಮಣು'' in Canara Konkani& ''Kupari'' in Bombay East Indian dialects) is a caste among the Goan, Bombay East Indian and Mangalorean Catholics who are patrilineal descendant ...

heritage. He attended

Hyderabad Public School The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet (HPS, Begumpet) is a privately funded public school in Hyderabad, Telangana State, India. Children are schooled from the pre-primary stage to the 12th standard (ages 3 to 17). The school is affiliated with ...

and the

Indian Institute of Technology Madras Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. As one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), it is recognized as an Institute of National Importance and has b ...

where he graduated with a degree in chemical engineering. He later moved to

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

, and went to the

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 university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

, where he earned an

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 ...

. Watsa left India with , sold furnaces and air conditioners to financially support his university education. He is a distinguished alumnus of

IIT Madras Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. As one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), it is recognized as an Institute of National Importance and has be ...

Career

After graduating, Watsa worked for the insurance company

Confederation Life Confederation Life Insurance Company, also known as Confederation Life, was a major Canada, Canadian insurance company and financial services provider. Its global head office was located in Toronto in what is now the Rogers Building (Toronto), Rog ...

. In 1984, he started an investment firm with his former boss Tony Hamblin, called Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel. In 1985, Watsa took over Markel Financial, a small Canadian trucking insurance company that was verging on bankruptcy, and renamed it

. He helped grow the company, where it reached annual revenues of $8 billion a year in 2012. Despite his success, he largely stayed out of the public eye, only beginning to hold investor conference calls in 2001. On 22 January 2012, it was reported he was to be appointed to the board of directors of

Research In Motion BlackBerry Limited is a Canadian software company specializing in cybersecurity. Founded in 1984, it was originally known as Research In Motion (RIM). As RIM, it developed the BlackBerry brand of interactive pagers, smartphones, and tablets ...

(RIM) in the company's largest ever corporate shakeup. Watsa resigned in August 2013, but kept his investment in the company. On 23 September 2013,

BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...

announced that it had signed a letter of intent to be acquired by

in a $4.7 billion deal. Fairfax Financial Holdings is "the largest insurer of the for-profit bail industry in the U.S." In April 2017, Watsa brought attention to concerns of a real estate bubble in

. He asserts that most Canadian banks cannot survive a 50% drop in the value of real estate. "It's going to come down, and a lot of people are going to get hurt" said Watsa during Fairfax's annual general meeting.

Volunteering

He is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Hospital for Sick Children, a member of the Advisory Board for the Richard Ivey School of Business, a member of the Board of Directors of the

Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...

Foundation, and Chairman of the Investment Committee of St. Paul's Anglican Church. In June 2009, he was appointed as the ninth chancellor of the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

. He was named a

Member of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with ...

in 2015. In September 2017, he was elected as the first chancellor of

Huron University College Huron University College is a university college affiliated with the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. Huron was incorporated on 5 May 1863 and the founding institution of the University of Western Ontario. It was est ...

.(Huron University College - News Release - 2017-10-18) http://huronuc.ca/AboutHuron/News/NewsDetail?q=f54ce115-dd8d-4cba-b102-cf8399c09475

References

External links

Fairfax Financial - Corporate

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watsa, Prem 1950 births Living people 20th-century Canadian businesspeople 21st-century Canadian businesspeople Canadian billionaires Chancellors of the University of Waterloo Businesspeople from Hyderabad, India Indian Institutes of Technology alumni University of Western Ontario alumni Directors of BlackBerry Limited Indian emigrants to Canada Members of the Order of Canada Recipients of the Padma Shri in trade and industry Fairfax Financial

Early life and education

Career

Volunteering

See also

References

External links