Prem Watsa

Who is Prem Watsa?

Prem Watsa is the founder, chairman, and chief executive of Fairfax Financial Holdings, based in Toronto, Canada. He has been called the "Canadian Warren Buffett" by some during successful periods of investing.

He is a CFA charterholder, an alumnus of the Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, a 1999 Distinguished Alumnus Awards Recipient of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras where he graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering and a holder of an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business of the University of Western Ontario. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the 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 Foundation and as well as Chairman of the Investment Committee of St. Paul’s Anglican Church.

In June 2009, he was installed as the ninth chancellor of the University of Waterloo. On January 22, 2012, it was reported he was to be appointed to BlackBerry handset maker, Research In Motion Ltd., board of directors in the company's largest ever corporate shakeup. Mr Watsa resigned in August 2013, but kept his investment in the company at the time. On September 23, 2013, Blackberry announced that it had signed a letter of intent to be acquired by Prem Watsa led Fairfax Financial Holdings in a $4.7 Billion deal.