Hall of Fame 2018

Jean-Guy Desjardins is Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Fiera Capital Corporation, an independent investment management firm that he created in 2003. The firm has since continued its expansion by way of several acquisitions across North America, Europe and Asia. Today, with more than $131 billion in assets under management, Fiera Capital is one of Canada’s leading investment managers.

After working as a financial analyst and portfolio manager for a life insurance company, Mr. Desjardins co-founded TAL Global Asset Management in 1972 and helped grow it to become one of Canada’s most prominent asset management firms. He was TAL’s principal shareholder until its purchase by a major Canadian bank in 2001.

In addition to his work at TAL Global Asset Management and Fiera Capital, Mr. Desjardins served on the Board of Directors of the Bank of Canada from 2003 to 2008, and was elected Lead Director in 2007. He also acted as Chairman of the special committee for the recruitment of the previous Governor of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney, who is now Governor of the Bank of England.

Mr. Desjardins is a member of the Board of Directors of the Société de Services Financiers Fonds FMOQ, HEC Montréal, DJM Capital Inc. and the Canadian Institute of Advanced Research.

Mr. Desjardins also supports a variety of community and social programs, in particular as a member of the Council of Governors of Centraide of Greater Montréal. Additionally, he sits on the Investment Committee of the Canadian Centre for Architecture and on the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.

In 2014, Mr. Desjardins was appointed to the Order of Canada and, in 2015, he received the Award for Professional Excellence, the highest and most prestigious distinction bestowed by the CFA Institute.

Click here for the Investment Industry Hall of Fame video vignette of Inductee Jean-Guy Desjardins.

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Bob Dorrance currently serves as Group Head, Wholesale Banking, TD Bank Group, and Chairman, CEO and President of TD Securities, leading the integrated investment dealer business of TD Bank Group. He is responsible for determining the strategic direction of the firm, as well as the day-to-day management of the global wholesale investment dealer operations.

Prior to this appointment, Mr. Dorrance managed a variety of areas within the dealer, including TD Securities’ Institutional Equities’ Sales, Trading and Research groups, and the Equity Capital Markets and Proprietary Equity Trading teams. He also served as Head of Investment Banking.

Mr. Dorrance joined TD Securities in November 2000 when TD Bank Group purchased Newcrest Capital, where he had been President and Chief Executive Officer since 1995. Prior to helping found Newcrest, he worked at Nesbitt Burns for 18 years.

A strong supporter of giving back to the community, Mr. Dorrance has helped lead TD Securities to raise more than $18 million at its annual Underwriting Hope Campaign and Auction. The funds raised have supported many meaningful projects and programs that focus on improving the health, well-being and safety of children and youth – including Food Allergy Canada, Child Development Institute and Big Brothers Big Sisters – making a positive and lasting difference in the lives of children and their families.

In 2014, Mr. Dorrance and his wife established the Robert Dorrance and Gail Drummond MBA Leadership Award to support outstanding students entering the Desautels Faculty of Management MBA Program at McGill University.

Mr. Dorrance and his wife, Gail, are proud supporters of the United Way, The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). Mr. Dorrance is also a member of The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation’s Investment Committee and the AGO’s Contemporary & Curatorial Committee.

Click here for the Investment Industry Hall of Fame video vignette of Inductee Bob Dorrance.

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A Companion of the Canadian Business Hall of Fame, Monique F. Leroux serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Investissement Québec, chaired the Québec government’s Advisory Council on the Economy and Innovation, and is member of the Canada-U.S. Council for Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders.

Ms. Leroux is a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors and an independent director of Bell, Couche-Tard, Michelin, and S&P Global. She acts as Strategic Advisor at Fiera Capital, Vice Chairman of Fiera Holdings Inc., Deputy Chairman (Canada) of the Trilateral Commission, and member of the Board of Directors of Lallemand.

From March 2008 to April 2016, she served as Chair of the Board, President and CEO of Desjardins Group, the leading cooperative financial group in Canada. Under her leadership, Desjardins significantly grew its Canadian activities while ranking among the five strongest financial institutions in the world, according to Bloomberg. Prior to this, Ms. Leroux served as CFO of Desjardins Group, Senior Vice-President at RBC, COO at Quebecor Inc., and Partner at Ernst and Young Canada.

From 2015 to 2017, Ms. Leroux was President of the International Co-operative Alliance, a global organization representing over 2.5 million enterprises and generating over $3 trillion in revenue in more than 100 countries.

Ms. Leroux was Co-Chair of the B7 Summit in Canada (2018), Co-Chair of the B20 SME Cross-thematic Group (2017), and Acting Chair of the High Level Contact Group, European Association of Co-operative Banks. She represented Canada at the B7 Summit in Berlin, and participated in the G7 Forum for Dialogue with Women and the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Germany.

Ms. Leroux has received numerous honours, including being named a Member of the Order of Canada, an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec, and a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur (France). She is a recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés du Québec, and is a Fellow of the same order. She holds honorary doctorates from eight Canadian universities. She was recently made an “honorary citizen” of the city of Lévis in recognition of her exceptional economic and societal contribution.

Ms. Leroux lends her time to a host of not-for-profit organizations and is particularly dedicated to education and youth. She is a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Governor General of Canada’s Rideau Hall Foundation and was president of the 2013 Canada Games.

Click here for the Investment Industry Hall of Fame video vignette of Inductee Monique F. Leroux.

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At the age of 38, Gordon Cheesbrough was appointed President and CEO of Scotia McLeod and would later be named Chairman and CEO of its successor organization, Scotia Capital, responsible for supervision of all the firm’s global activities.

Mr. Cheesbrough began his standout career in the Canadian investment industry at McLeod Young Weir as a corporate bond trader. He progressed very quickly in his career, first to Head of Fixed Income Sales in the late 1970s, and then to the Head of the firm’s Fixed Income operations in the early 1980s. Mr. Cheesbrough became president of his firm in 1990, after it was purchased by the Bank of Nova Scotia.

In 1998, Mr. Cheesbrough left Scotia Capital to become President and CEO of Altamira Investment Services, one of Canada’s largest independent mutual fund companies at the time, where he oversaw the firm’s restructuring and eventual sale to National Bank of Canada. In 2002, he realized a long-held dream of co-founding his own investment company, Blair Franklin Capital Partners, which has grown into a leading Canadian independent investment bank.

Mr. Cheesbrough also served as Deputy Chairman of Alterra Capital Holdings, headquartered in Bermuda, and Director of the Canadian National Stock Exchange. He was also on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the University of Toronto.

Mr. Cheesbrough gave generously of his time to charitable and non-profit organizations, serving on the Board of Governors of North York General Hospital for more than a decade, the last five years as Chair. He also served on the Board of Directors at Upper Canada College, Canadian Tire Corporation, and the Toronto Community Foundation.

Mr. Cheesbrough is remembered as a passionate advocate for Canada’s investment industry who believed in the importance of well-functioning, transparent capital markets. He worked closely with the Bank of Canada and Investment Dealers’ Association to further the success of the industry he loved.

Click here for the Investment Industry Hall of Fame video vignette of Inductee Gordon F. Cheesbrough.

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Bob Hager was a founding partner of Phillips, Hager & North (PH&N), one of Canada’s most successful asset management firms. He served as the firm’s President and CEO from 1973 to 1987 and Chairman from 1987 to 2001.

In 1965, Mr. Hager, along with his partners Art Phillips, Rudy North and, later, Dick Bradshaw, set out to create a different kind of investment firm, offering active investment management with transparency and modest fees based on portfolio size. After serving primarily as a pension manager in the firm’s early days, Mr. Hager and his partners created a family of mutual funds in part to satisfy demand from pension trustees who wished to invest their personal money with the firm.

PH&N’s family of mutual funds propelled the firm to become the largest independent asset manager in Canada at the time of Mr. Hager’s retirement in 2001. When the firm was sold to RBC in 2008, assets under management totalled $69 billion.

After retiring from the asset management business, Mr. Hager became a philanthropist. He served on the Honorary Governors’ Council of the Vancouver Foundation and on the Board of the Canadian Rugby Foundation. He also gave graciously of his time and investment expertise to the Public Guardian Trustee of B.C. and to the Universities Academic Pension Plan of Alberta.

Mr. Hager died on Oct. 7, 2011 of pancreatic cancer, four short months after his diagnosis. When he learned that he had only a very short time to live, Mr. Hager was determined to do something about this devastating disease. He brought together the leaders from the VGH Hospital Foundation and the B.C. Cancer Agency, and, with his generous donation, the Pancreatic Cancer Research Initiative was formed.

The 2012 Annual Cypress Challenge bicycle fundraiser was dedicated to the memory of Mr. Hager, with the proceeds going to pancreatic cancer research.

Mr. Hager leaves behind a lasting legacy, as many charitable causes continue to be supported through the Bob and Judy Hager Family Fund.

Click here for the Investment Industry Hall of Fame video vignette of Inductee Bob Hager.