Prem Watsa (born 5 August 1950) is an

Indian-Canadian Indian Canadians are Canadians who have ancestry from India. The term ''East Indian'' is sometimes used to avoid confusion with Indigenous groups. Categorically, Indian Canadians comprise a subgroup of South Asian Canadians which is a further ...

billionaire businessman who is the founder, chairman, and

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Fairfax Financial Holdings, based in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Early life and education

Watsa was born in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He attended

Hyderabad Public School The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet (HPS, Begumpet) is a privately funded public school in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The school has grades from pre-primary to the 12th (ages 3 to 17). The school is affiliated with the Council for the Ind ...

and the

Indian Institute of Technology Madras The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras or IIT-M) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the eight public Institutes of Eminence of India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), ...

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

London, Ontario London 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 (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

, and went to the

Richard Ivey School of Business Ivey Business School is the main business school of Western University, located in London, Ontario, Canada. It offers full-time undergraduate and graduate programs in London, Ontario and maintains a Toronto facility for its EMBA program and two ...

at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

, where he earned an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

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

IIT Madras The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras or IIT-M) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the eight public Institutes of Eminence of India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), ...

Career

After graduating, Watsa worked for the insurance company

Confederation Life Confederation Life Insurance Company was a Canadian insurance company and financial services provider. Its global head office was located in Toronto in what is now the Rogers Building. The company had operations in Canada, the United States, the ...

. 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 Fairfax Financial Holdings. 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.He has been called the "Canadian

Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist who currently serves as the chairman and CEO of the conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway. As a result of his investment success, Buffett is ...

." On 22 January 2012, it was reported he was to be appointed to the board of directors of

Research In Motion BlackBerry Limited, formerly Research In Motion (RIM), is a Canadian software company specializing in secure communications and the Internet of Things (IoT). Founded in 1984, it developed the BlackBerry brand of interactive pagers, smartpho ...

(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 BlackBerry is a discontinued brand of handheld devices and related mobile services, originally developed and maintained by the Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM, later known as BlackBerry Limited) until 2016. The first BlackBerry device ...

announced that it had signed a letter of intent to be acquired by Fairfax Financial Holdings 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 ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

, 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 university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

. 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. It was Incorporated on the 5 May 1863. Huron is the founding institution of the University of Western Ontario. It ...

Awards

He was named a

Member of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national 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 the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in 2015. Watsa was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 2024. He was awarded the fourth highest civilian award of India,

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

, in January 2020.

References

External links