Pierre Lassonde

Pierre Lassonde, CM, OQ, born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec in 1947, is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist.

Early life

Pierre Lassonde was born in St-Hyacinthe, Quebec, the third child of four. He studied at the Séminaire de Saint-Hyacinthe and graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts. He then attended the École Polytechnique de Montréal in Montreal,^[1] graduating with a B.Sc in Electrical Engineering in 1971. He attended the University of Utah and received his MBA in 1973.^[2] He earned his CFA designation in 1983.

Career

After receiving his MBA from the University of Utah, he joined the Mining and Metals Division of Bechtel, based in San Francisco, California. In 1977, he accepted a position in the Strategic Planning Dept. of Rio Algom in Toronto, Ontario. He joined Beutel, Goodman & Company Ltd., a leading Institutional money management firm in 1980 as mining analyst and precious metal portfolio manager. There he managed the very successful Dynamic Gold Fund for a period of 10 years.^[3]

In 1982, he co-founded, along with his business partner Seymour Schulich, Franco-Nevada Corporation, the first publicly traded gold royalty company. In 1985, Franco-Nevada acquired for US$2 million a royalty on a small mining operation in the heart of the Carlin gold belt of Nevada. Two years later, the property was acquired by Barrick Gold, who discovered the world class Goldstrike deposit. From inception to February 2002 when the company was sold to Newmont Mining for US$3.2billion, Franco-Nevada provided its shareholders a 36% annualized rate of return.^[4]

Lassonde served as President of Newmont Mining Corp. from February 2002 to 2007 and Vice-Chairman in 2007.

In 2008, Lassonde revived Franco-Nevada by joining forces with David Harquail and the rest of the original Franco-Nevada team to acquire Newmont’s royalty portfolio. The born-again Franco-Nevada became the largest mining IPO (Initial Public Offering) ever offered on the TSE (Toronto Stock Exchange) at that time.^[5] Lassonde holds the position of Chairman of the Board of the new Franco-Nevada. The success story continues, as the market capitalization of the company today is more than $7 billion.

In 1993, Lassonde led a group of investors in another start-up, Metallica Resources. The company was responsible for the discovery of the world-class El Morro deposit in Chile and the Cerro San Pedro mine in Mexico. In 2010, Metallica merged with Peak Gold and Newgold and later on with Western Goldfields Resources to create a leading mid-size gold-producing company. Lassonde is a leading shareholder and Director of the company.

In 1995, Lassonde led another group of investors in the startup of Enghouse Systems Ltd, a provider of software to the telecommunication companies. The company had revenue of $220 million in fiscal 2014 and net income of $29.7 million. He is the second-largest shareholder and a Director of the company. The company is listed on the TSX and has a market capitalization of over $1.2B.

Lassonde served as Chairman of the World Gold Council from 2005 to 2009.^[6][7]

In addition, Lassonde authored in 1990 The Gold Book: The Complete Investment Guide to Precious Metals.^[8]

Philanthropy

Lassonde is an active and engaged philanthropist in both Canada and the United States in the fields of education, the arts and the community in which he lives. Pierre currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the Musee National des Beaux-Arts du Quebec since 2005. He was appointed Chair of the Canada Council for the Arts in July 2015.^[9]

• CDN$5 million to the University of Toronto, in 1996^[10] to support the creation of the Lassonde Mineral Engineering program. Additional donations between 1999-2005 bring the total to CDN$10 million.^[11]
• CDN$1 million to the College Marie-Clarac, in honour of his late wife Claudette MacKay-Lassonde for the creation of the Campus Claudette MacKay-Lassonde in 2001.^[12]
• US$13.25 million to the University of Utah in 2002 for the creation of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute with additional donations to bring the total to US$25 million.^[13]
• CDN$8 million to École Polytechnique in 2002 for the Pavillon Claudette MacKay-Lassonde and Pavillon Pierre Lassonde engineering buildings.^[14]
• CDN$5 million to the University of Western Ontario in 2006 for the Pavilion Claudette MacKay-Lassonde.^[15]
• CDN$25 million to York University in 2012 for the creation of the Lassonde Engineering School.^[16]
• CDN$3.9 million to the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ) in 2006 and additional funds in 2007 to bring the total to CDN$10 million to the institution.^[17]
• US$1 million in 2014 to Opportunity International (OI) for the education program. Janelle Muntz Lassonde is the co-chair of this program.

Honours and Awards

• The Northern Miner's Mining Man of the Year 1997 award (with Seymour Schulich).^[18]
• Mining Developer of the Year awarded by the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) in 1998.^[19]
• Engineering Medal, 1999, awarded by the Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO).^[20]
• Inco Medal, 2001, awarded by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM).^[21]
• Daniel C Jackling Award 2005^[22]
• American Mining Hall of Fame, Inductee, 2005 ^[23]
• GJ Stokes award 2007^[24]
• Degree honoris causa have been bestowed on Lassonde from the following universities: University of Toronto (2001),^[25] University of Montreal (2002),^[26] Ryerson University (2006),^[27] Western University (2015), University of Utah (2006^[13]) and York University (2014).^[16]
• Companion of the Order of Canada, 2002.^[28]
• City of Québec awarded him the insignia of the Order of Patrons, 2008.^[29]
• Officer of the National Order of Quebec, 2008.^[30]
• Inducted in to the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame in 2013.^[31]

References