(Biography from 2001)

Pierre Lassonde has an MBA from the University of Utah and a B.Sc. in electrical engineering from École Polytechnique in Montreal. He holds honorary PhDs from the University of Utah and the University of Toronto.

In 1980, he became president of the gold division of Beutel, Goodman & Company, a position he held for 10 years, during which time he directed its highly successful gold investment fund. Lassonde co-founded Franco-Nevada Mining Corporation in 1982, and over a 20-year period provided shareholders with a 36 per cent annualized rate of return. He became post-merger president of Newmont Mining Corporation in 2002 – the world’s largest gold producer.

From January to November 2007, Lassonde was vice-chairman of Newmont Mining Corporation. He served as chairman of the World Gold Council from 2005-2009. In 2007, as chairman of Franco-Nevada, he led a group of investors in bringing the company back to the public market. Franco-Nevada is a gold-focused royalty company with a market capitalization of over $3.3B. Pierre Lassonde is the author of The Gold Book, The Complete Investment Guide to Precious Metals.