Mark S. Bonham

Founder, Former Chairman and CEO of Strategic Value Corporation,
Co-Founder, Former Chairman and CEO of BPI Financial Corporation,
Senior Fellow of Massey College at the University of Toronto

Mark S. Bonham is a leader in the Canadian financial industry and has recently received the 2018 Outstanding Philanthropist honour from the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).

In 1986, Mr. Bonham co-founded the mutual fund management company BPI Financial Corporation (BPI) and served as its President & Chief Executive Officer. BPI grew organically and through acquisition of The Walywn Series of Funds of Toronto, MK Wong Asset Management of Vancouver, and Bolton Tremblay Funds Inc. of Toronto and Montreal. Mr. Bonham took BPI public in 1991 and renamed the company BPI Financial Corporation. Mr. Bonham sold his position in the company and left BPI Financial Corporation in 1995 when it was the fourteenth largest fund company in Canada.

Mr. Bonham then founded the mutual fund management company Strategic Value Corporation (SVC) in 1995 and became President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Bonham took the company public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1996. SVC acquired Laurentian Funds Management Inc. from the Desjardins-Laurentian Group in 1997. In 1999, SVC acquired O’Donnell Investment Management Corporation of Toronto and was renamed SVC O’Donnell Corporation. In 2000, SVC O’Donnell was purchased by Nova Bancorp Group, a unit of the Quebec pension plan Caisse de Depot. Mr. Bonham departed the company and continued investment management, consulting and advisory services with Bonham & Co. Inc.

From 2003 to 2008, Mr. Bonham was President of Stoney Ridge Estate Winery located in Vineland, Ontario, Canada. During his tenure, Stoney Ridge Estate Winery was awarded the top Canadian winery by the International Spirits and Wine Awards in 2008.

Mr. Bonham received his Master of Science in Economics, with a focus on Capital Markets Theory, from the London School of Economics (LSE), a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto, and is a Fellow of the Life Office Management Association. Mr. Bonham has recently completed a financial book titled A History of the Canadian Financial Industry, 1900 to Present (2018).

An active member of the LGBTQ community, Mr. Bonham is the author of two books to date: Notables: 101 Global LGBTQ People Who Changed the World (2015) and Champions: Biographies of Global LGBTQ Pioneers (2014). Co-founder and Managing Editor of the online biographical encyclopedia QueerBio.Com, a source of biographical information on over 13,000 international LGBTQ individuals.

Mr. Bonham has been an active philanthropist in education, the arts, health and the LGBTQ community. He donated to the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto in 2001 to create the Bonham Centre for Finance. He also endowed the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto in 2006.

Mr. Bonham also serves on the board of directors and fundraises for We Are the Villagers, which financially assists children from low-income homes in northern Ontario to participate in recreational and cultural extra-curricular programs.