The following members of the Value Investing Community serve as the Advisory Board for the Ben Graham Centre for Value Investing:
George Athanassakos
Advisory Board Chair
Founder & Managing Director, Ben Graham Centre for Value Investing, Ivey Business School, Western University
Read Dr. George Athanassakos' Bio
William H. Browne
Managing Director, Tweedy, Browne Company LLC
Mr. Browne has been with Tweedy, Browne Company LLC, a registered investment advisor, since 1978 and is a member of the firm's Management Committee and Investment Committee. He is a Managing Director of Tweedy, Browne Company LLC, and Chairman of the Board of Directors and Vice President of Tweedy, Browne Fund Inc., a US-based mutual fund group, and is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tweedy, Browne Value Funds SICAV, domiciled in Luxembourg. Founded in 1920, and serving originally as a broker to Benjamin Graham and other highly noted value investors, Tweedy, Browne began managing money for clients in 1968, and today manages approximately $18B in value portfolios for individuals, family groups and institutions. Mr. Browne is a Trustee Emeritus of Colgate University, and holds the degrees of B.A. from Colgate University and M.B.A. from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Additionally, he is a Member of the Executive Advisory Board of the Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing. Mr. Browne has over 40 years of experience in the investment management business, and is a frequent speaker on value investing, investment theory, and behavioral finance.
Lawrence A. Cunningham
Scholar and Author, George Washington University; Director and Vice-Chairman, Constellation Software Inc.
Mr. Cunningham is an expert on corporate governance, culture, and structure. Since 2007, he has been the Tucker Research Professor at The George Washington University Law School in Washington D.C. He is the Founding Director of GW’s Business Law Program in New York City (GWNY) and the Faculty Director of the Center for Law, Economics and Finance (C-LEAF) and head of its Quality Shareholders Initiative. Cunningham has written extensively on corporate affairs in university journals and periodicals. He has published many influential books, including The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, in collaboration with Mr. Buffett; The AIG Story, with Hank Greenberg; and Quality Shareholders: How the Best Managers Attract and Keep Them. Cunningham is Vice Chairman of the Board of Constellation Software Inc., a Toronto Stock Exchange company, and Director and former Treasurer of Ocean Colony LLC, a private resort in East Hampton, New York. Cunningham is a Trustee of the Museum of American Finance; a Member of the Dean’s Council of Lerner College of Business at the University of Delaware; and a Member of the Editorial Board of Financial History. Cunningham has served on the Boards of Directors of Ashford Hospitality Prime, an NYSE investor in luxury hotels; Pearl West Group, a private investment company in Vancouver; and Strata, a private technology company in Silicon Valley. A former Corporate Associate of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Cunningham consults for public and private corporations and advises management and boards of directors. He has received numerous awards, including the 2018 B. Kenneth West Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).
Roger Lace
Chairman, Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel Ltd.
Mr. Lace is currently Chairman of Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, a publicly listed insurance holding company. In this capacity, he and his team are responsible for managing Fairfax’s global investment assets. He leads the equity management group in uncovering investment opportunities worldwide using the value investing approach. He has served in the investment industry since 1975, initially receiving his training as a research analyst at Confederation Life under the tutelage of value investing specialist John H. Watson (cofounder of Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd.) He subsequently worked in portfolio management at Scotia McLeod and has been a portfolio manager and principal at Hamblin Watsa since 1986. He received his SB in management from the Alfred P. Sloan School, MIT in 1973, his MBA from Ivey in 1975, and CFA in 1979.
Mohnish Pabrai
Managing Partner, Pabrai Investment Funds
Mr. Pabrai is the Managing Partner of the Pabrai Investment Funds. Since inception in 1999 with $1 million in assets under management, Pabrai Investment Funds has grown to over $549 million in assets under management in 2019. The funds invest in public equities utilizing the Munger/Buffett Focused Value investing approach. Since inception, the funds have widely outperformed market indices and most investment managers. A $100,000 investment in Pabrai Funds at inception in 1999 would have been worth almost $1.3 million as of December 31, 2019 – an annualized gain of 13.2%. Pabrai was the Founder/CEO of TransTech, Inc. - an IT Consulting and Systems Integration company. Founded in his home in 1990, Pabrai bootstrapped the company to over $20 million in revenue when it was sold in 2000. TransTech was recognized as an Inc. 500 company in 1996. Pabrai has been profiled by Forbes and Barron’s and appeared frequently on CNN, PBS, CNBC, Bloomberg TV and Bloomberg Radio. He has been quoted by various leading newspapers including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Economic Times and The Times of India. He is the author of two books on value investing, The Dhandho Investor and Mosaic: Perspectives on Investing. The Dhandho Investor has been translated into German, Mandarin, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, and Spanish. Pabrai is the winner of the 1999 KPMG Illinois High Tech Entrepreneur award given by KPMG, The State of Illinois, and The City of Chicago. He is a member of the Young President's Organization. He is the Founder and Chairman of the Dakshana Foundation. Dakshana Foundation is focused on providing world-class educational opportunities to economically and socially disadvantaged gifted children worldwide.
Robert Robotti
Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Robotti & Company Advisors LLC.
Mr. Robotti is the Founder and CIO of Robotti & Company Advisors LLC, a registered investment adviser, and president of Robotti & Company LLC, a registered broker-dealer. He started his career as an accountant and CPA, and served as CFO of Gabelli & Company. Building on his exposure to other prominent value investors, Bob founded Robotti & Company in 1983. The firm’s success over time has been due to his and his team’s ability to identify companies trading at a significant discount to intrinsic value. While investing across a wide range of industries, Bob has been particularly active in the energy industry for his entire career. Bob currently serves on the boards of Panhandle Oil & Gas Inc. (NYSE:PHX) and Pulse Seismic Inc. (TSX:PSD). He was a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Advisory Committee on Smaller Public Companies, established to examine the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other aspects of the federal securities law. Bob graduated from Bucknell University and holds an MBA from Pace University.
Robyn Ross
Vice President, Head of People & Talent, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd.
Ms. Ross has over 20 years of experience in the Financial Services industry. She joined Burgundy in 2006, and in 2013 she was appointed Operations Manager, Investments, where she supported the Investment Analyst team. In 2016, she transitioned to the role of Manager of Recruitment and Development, where she worked to design and deploy recruitment strategies to attract and retain exceptional people. In her current role as Head of People and Talent, Robyn applies these skills to cultivate a working environment that sets Burgundy’s people up for success and generates an outstanding employee experience. Before joining Burgundy, Robyn spent four years at Lines Overseas Management and two years at Lehman Brothers, London in the role of Executive Assistant. Robyn received her Canadian Securities Course certification in 2002. She is a member of GEM (Girls E-Mentorship) Scholarship Committee. Co-Chair, Portfolio Management Association of Canada HR Committee
Kim Shannon
President and Chief Investment Officer, Sionna Investment Managers
Ms. Shannon founded Sionna in 2002 and has more than 35 years of industry experience. She is the president and co-chief investment officer at Sionna, and was previously chief investment officer and senior vice president at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Canada. Kim serves as a board member with the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance and is the Chair of its Governance Committee. She is also on the board for the Brandes Institute, the Ontario Arts Foundation, United Corporation (a listed closed-end fund), a member of the C.D. Howe Institute’s National Council and the CFA Institute Board of Regents (she previously served as its chair). Kim is also a past president of the CFA Society Toronto. She was awarded Morningstar Fund Manager of the Year (2005), the RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur Award, the Women’s Executive Network’s Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award (2007, 2017), continuously listed as one of Profit Magazine’s Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs over the last several years and a recipient of the 2015 Rotman Women in Management Association Top 10 Awards (Entrepreneur Category).
Arnold Van Den Berg
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Chief Investment Officer, Century Management
Mr. Van Den Berg began his investing career in 1968, at the start of what turned out to be the worst bear market since the Great Depression. While selling mutual funds in the declining market, Arnold became concerned for his clients and noticed that some money managers seemed to suffer fewer losses. He embarked on an exhaustive study, discovering that those who practiced the value investing style pioneered by Benjamin Graham protected their client’s capital better and provided more consistent results. While the consensus opinion was to avoid stocks at the bottom of the bear market in 1974, Arnold became convinced of the many great values that were available. He founded Century Management at this time and made Value Investing the cornerstone of Century’s practice. Today, he serves as the company's CEO and Co-Chief Investment Officer. Arnold has been profiled in the books The Great Minds of Investing and The World's 99 Greatest Investors: The Secret of Success. He has also been interviewed by many media outlets including: Outstanding Investor Digest, The Wall Street Journal, Outlook Profit Magazine (India), Money Manager Review, Graham and Doddsville and GuruFocus.com. Arnold has no formal education beyond high school. His rigorous self-study, dedication, and 48 years of industry experience form the foundation of his market knowledge. For over 25 years Arnold has worked side-by-side with son Scott Van Den Berg (Co-Portfolio Manager) and son-in-law Jim Brilliant (Co-Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager). Arnold frequently speaks to middle and high school students about the lessons he learned as a Holocaust survivor. He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife Eileen. They have three children and seven grandchildren.
Prem Watsa
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.
Mr. Watsa is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., a financial services holding company, which he took over in 1985. The company, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, as well as investment management. Mr. Watsa is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a graduate of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology with a degree in Chemical Engineering and a holder of an MBA from the Ivey Business School at Western University. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Hospital for Sick Children, a member of the Advisory Board for the Ivey Business School and a member of the Board of Directors of the Royal Ontario Museum Foundation, as well as Chairman of the Investment Committee of St. Paul’s Anglican Church.
Charles Brandes
Chairman, Brandes Investment Partners LP
Mr. Brandes is Chairman of the firm’s five-member Executive Committee, where he shares responsibility for driving strategic decisions and monitoring implementation of the firm’s vision and objectives at Brandes Investment Partners, L.P. He is also a member of the all-cap investment committee and the Investment Oversight Committee, which monitors the processes and activities of the firm’s investment committees. Before founding Brandes in 1974, Mr. Brandes became an acquaintance of Benjamin Graham, widely considered the father of the value-investing approach. He has also authored a book on value investing. Mr. Brandes is a board member of several organizations involved in scientific, eleemosynary and cultural work. He earned his BA in economics from Bucknell University and has 46 years of investment experience.
Peter Cundill
Chief Investment Officer of The Cundill Division, Mackenzie Cundill Investment Management Ltd.
Mr. Cundill was the Chief Investment Officer of The Cundill Division of Mackenzie Financial Corporation (“MFC”). Prior to October 2006, Peter was the Principal of The Cundill Group. After positions at Greenshields Inc. in Montreal and the Yorkshire Group in Vancouver, Peter became president of AGF Vancouver Investment Management Ltd., a position he held from 1972-1975. The All-Canadian Venture Fund was formed in 1967. In 1975, Vanan Financial Management Ltd. took over management of this fund. Peter Cundill was a partner in the company and in April 1977, the fund was renamed the Cundill Value Fund. In 1977, Peter founded his own firm, Peter Cundill & Associates Ltd. ("PCA"). In 1998, PCA entered into a strategic partnership with MFC to serve the needs of Canadian mutual fund shareholders. In August 2006, Peter entered into a strategic alliance with MFC. MFC acquired all of the assets of The Cundill Group. Peter and the investment team now manage USD15 billion in assets. Peter graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1960. Peter was a Chartered Accountant (1963) and a Chartered Financial Analyst Charter Holder (1968). Throughout his career, Peter earned many distinctions. In December 2001, Peter was presented with the Analysts' Choice Career Achievement Award as the greatest mutual fund manager of all time. In January 2004, he was elected to be a Fellow (FCA) by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia (ICABC) for service to the profession and the community.
Lisa Pankratz
President, Mackenzie Cundill Investment Management Ltd.
Ms. Pankratz was President of Mackenzie Cundill Investment Management Ltd. in Vancouver, Canada. Prior to October 2006, she was the President of Cundill Investment Research Ltd. (2002-2006); an independent Corporate Advisor and Consultant (2000-2002); Chief Financial Officer/Turnaround Specialist of Evans Forest Products Ltd. (1997-1999); and an investment banker with Bankers Trust (BT Bank of Canada), Swiss Bank Corporation and Ernst & Young (1991- 1996). In 2005, Ms. Pankratz was appointed Director of CanWest Global Communications Corp. and serves on the Audit and Pension Committees. The same year she became an advisor to the investment committees of Pacific Blue Cross and BC Life and Casualty Company. Since 2001, she has been a Director of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) and serves as Chair of the Investment Committee, is a member of the Audit Committee and previously served on the Governance Committee (2001 – 2004). Between 2002 and 2004, Ms. Pankratz was also a member of the Accounting Policy and Advisory Committee advising the Ministry of Finance for the Province of British Columbia. In 2005, Ms. Pankratz was awarded the Peak Award for Performance and Excellence from the Association of Women in Finance. Ms. Pankratz attended the University of Western Ontario and achieved an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business. She is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accounts of British Columbia, the Institute of Chartered Accounts of Ontario, the Vancouver Society of Financial Analysts, and the CFA Institute.
Martin Whitman
Founder and Co-Chief Investment Officer, Third Avenue Management LLC
Mr. Whitman unfortunately passed away in April of 2018. Mr. Whitman was a veteran value investor with a long, distinguished history as a control investor who has identified value securities for more than 50 years. He began his career as a security analyst at Shearson, Hammil in 1950. For the next twenty years, he held positions as director of research and corporate finance at several firms. In 1974, he founded M.J. Whitman & Co., Inc. Martin entered the asset management business in 1984, when he became President and CEO of Equity Strategies Fund, Inc., an open-end investment company. He has managed the flagship Third Avenue Value Fund since its inception in 1990. Third Avenue Management invests predominantly in the equities of well-capitalized companies, priced at a significant discount to their takeover value. Mr. Whitman served on the board of Nabors Industries, Inc., a New York Stock Exchange-listed company which is one of the largest in the land drilling and oil services industry. For over 30 years, Martin was a Distinguished Management Fellow at the Yale School of Management. He also taught at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, as well as Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management, which is named in his honour. Martin was named Mutual Fund Manager of the Year by Morningstar in 1990. He is the author of the Aggressive Conservative Investors and Value Investing - A Balanced Approach. Martin received a Masters degree in Economics from the New School for Social Research and graduated from Syracuse University magna cum laude. He was also a CFA Charterholder.
Richard Rooney
Vice Chair and Co-Founder, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd.
Mr. Rooney is the Vice Chair and Co-Founder of Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto in 1977 and an MBA from the Ivey Business School, Western University in 1981. Mr. Rooney began his career in Price Waterhouse in 1981 and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1984. In 1984, he joined Sun Life as an Investment Analyst and, in 1986, he became investment officer of Sunimco, a subsidiary of Sun Life. In 1989, he joined AMI partners where he had extensive responsibilities for investment research and portfolio management in the Canadian Equities group. Burgundy, Mr. Rooney, joined in 1995 as a Senior Vice President and in 1997 he was appointed president of Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. Under his leadership, Burgundy has been ranked as one of Canada’s 50 best managed companies. In 2002, Mr. Rooney completed a three-year term on the Accounting Standards Board of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. Mr. Rooney is President and a Trustee of The Art Gallery of Ontario Foundation, a Director of Empire Life Insurance, a Director of the Historica-Dominion Institute and Past Chair of the Stratford Festival of Canada. In 2009, he was honoured by his peers and received the designation of Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
David J. Winters
Managing Director, Wintergreen Advisers, LLC
Mr. Winters is the managing director of Wintergreen Advisers, LLC. He is primarily responsible for the management of the Fund's portfolio, and has responsibility for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Prior to forming Wintergreen Advisers in May 2005, Mr. Winters held various positions with Franklin Mutual Advisers, LLC, including, president, chief executive officer and chief investment officer. He led the Mutual Series group of global and domestic equity value funds and served as the chief investment officer of Franklin Mutual Advisers, LLC with assets under management in excess of $35 billion as of March 31, 2005. Mr. Winters also served as the portfolio manager of the Mutual Discovery Fund during the period beginning February 1, 2000 through May 10, 2005, and other client accounts managed in a similar investment style. Mr. Winters had been a member of the management team of the Mutual Series since 1987. He was named director of research in 2000, and was promoted to president and chief investment officer in 2001.