John McCall MacBain | |
---|---|
20th Chancellor of McGill University | |
Assumed office 2021 | |
Preceded by | Michael Meighen |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 1958 |
Education | McGill University (BA) Wadham College,Oxford (MA) Harvard University (MBA) |
John H. McCall MacBain OC (born in 1958) is a Swiss-based, [1] Canadian billionaire businessman and philanthropist who is the founder of the McCall MacBain Foundation and Pamoja Capital SA,its investment arm. [2] [3] Prior to establishing the McCall MacBain Foundation,in the late 1980s he bought Auto Hebdo magazine in Montréal,Canada and bought and consolidated several other existing Auto Traders and Buy and Sell classified papers to form Trader Classified Media with operations in 23 countries.
McCall MacBain received an MBA from Harvard Business School (1984), [4] an MA in Law (Jurisprudence) from Wadham College,Oxford (1982) as a Rhodes Scholar and an Honours BA in Economics from McGill University (1980). [4] He holds honorary degrees from Dalhousie University, [5] the University of Ottawa, [6] Brock University, [7] McGill University [8] and Monash University. [9]
He served as President of the Students' Society of McGill University,as well as valedictorian. While at Oxford,he was co-captain of the university's ice hockey team. [10]
McCall MacBain has five children [11] and two grandchildren. He is married to Marcy McCall MacBain, [12] an academic at the University of Oxford in the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. [13] He is also an avid skier,marathon runner,ice hockey player and cyclist as well as a commercial land and sea pilot. [1]
He worked from 1984 to 1987 as director of marketing at Power Financial Corporation.
From 1987 to 2006,McCall MacBain was the founder,President and CEO of Trader Classified Media,the world's leading classified advertising company. [4] Starting with his purchase of three small publications in Montréal in 1987,when he was 29 years old,he developed the classified business to include 500 print titles and 57 internet sites in over 23 countries,including in Argentina,Australia,Canada,China,France,Hungary,Italy,Mexico,Spain and the United States. [14]
After its IPO in 2000,Trader Classified Media was publicly traded on NASDAQ and the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange. [15] In 2006,McCall MacBain sold the company and set up the McCall MacBain Foundation. [2]
He is now Chancellor of McGill University for a three-year term from 2021 to 2024 [16] and he is a member of The Giving Pledge. [17]
Since its formation in Geneva,Switzerland,in 2007,the McCall MacBain Foundation has made approximately $500 million of grants to fund projects relating to education and scholarships,health and climate change,and the environment. In addition to his role as a director and Chair of the foundation,McCall MacBain is the Founding Chair of the European Climate Foundation, [18] Chancellor of McGill University,a member of the Advisory Board for the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy [19] and a Foundation Fellow of Wadham College,Oxford. [20] Additionally,he is a director of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation in Cape Town,South Africa. [21]
McCall MacBain,a Canadian Rhodes Scholar (Quebec and Wadham,1980),donated $120 million to the Rhodes Trust in order to help fund the scholarships and aid the expansion of the program to new countries. He made that gift in September 2013 during the Rhodes 110th anniversary celebrations. [22] [23] As a result,he was named a 'Second Century Founder of the Rhodes Scholarships' in honour of that significant gift. [24] Additionally,McCall MacBain was honoured in 2014 as a Fellow of the Chancellor's Court of Benefactors at Oxford University and at Rhodes House,where his portrait hangs and a room bears his name. [25] The McCall MacBain Graduate Centre at Wadham College,Oxford,was endowed by him. [26]
McCall MacBain has also donated more than $10 million to fund McCall MacBain Loran Scholars through the Loran Scholars Foundation –the largest undergraduate entry scholarship program in Canada –and to fund the Mandela Rhodes Foundation. [27] [28]
On June 30,2016,McCall MacBain was named an Officer of the Order of Canada by Governor General David Johnston for "his achievements as a business leader and for his contributions to academic institutions as a philanthropist." [29]
On February 13,2019,John and Marcy McCall MacBain donated $200 million to McGill University,the single-largest charitable gift in Canada at the time,for a graduate scholarship program –the McCall MacBain Scholarship at McGill –modelled on the Rhodes Scholarship. [30]
In 2019,the McCall MacBain Foundation also seeded the Kupe Leadership Scholarship at the University of Auckland. [31] [32]
John and Marcy McCall MacBain joined The Giving Pledge in 2019. In their pledge letter they stated:“We believe that strong,dedicated and creative leadership is needed to address the world’s most pressing problems. We believe talent is found in every corner of the world,but that opportunities are not –and we want to reduce this gap .We pledge to give the majority of our wealth to philanthropic causes to provide greater benefit to our communities and our world by giving more,and by giving sooner.” [17]
Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford,at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road.
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford,in the United Kingdom.
Founded in Toronto in 1988,the Loran Scholars Foundation is a national charitable organization awarding scholarships for students entering university in Canada. Loran Scholars receive the country's largest undergraduate merit award on the basis of character,commitment to service and leadership potential.
Wasim Sajjad is a Pakistani conservative politician and lawyer who served as the acting president of Pakistan for two non-consecutive terms and as the Chairman of the Senate between 1988 and 1999.
Sir John Antony Hood is a New Zealand businessman and administrator. He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 5 October 2004 until 30 September 2009. He was the first Vice-Chancellor to be elected from outside Oxford's academic body in 900 years,and the first to have addressed the scholars' congregation via a webcast. In March 2007 New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark awarded him the World Class New Zealand supreme award to honour his contribution to profiling New Zealand and New Zealanders internationally. On 15 November 2007 he announced that he would not seek an extension to his five-year term as Vice Chancellor,and that he would leave Oxford in September 2009.
The Norway Scholarship is a scholarship to the University of Oxford that is awarded in Norway. Norway Scholars receive funding for one or two years of study and research at Oxford University,and the scholar always becomes a member of Wadham College.
The Oxford University Ice Hockey Club (OUIHC) is home to the Men’s and Women’s Blues ice hockey teams of the University of Oxford,England. The Men's Blues,also known as Oxford University Blues,is one of the world's oldest ice hockey teams. Tradition places the origin of the team in 1885,when a match is said to have been played against Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club in St Moritz,Switzerland. This date is recognised by the Hockey Hall of Fame,and prior to the 1985 Ice Hockey Varsity Match,the International Ice Hockey Federation formally recognised the 1885 game as the first ice hockey match played in Europe. However,there is no contemporary evidence that this match took place,and Oxford now claims that this was a bandy match.
Donald John Markwell is an Australian social scientist,who has been described as a "renowned Australian educational reformer". He was appointed Head of St Mark's College,Adelaide,from November 2019. He was Senior Adviser to the Leader of the Government in the Australian Senate from October 2015 to December 2017,and was previously Senior Adviser on Higher Education to the Australian Minister for Education.
Terence William Leighton MacDermot was a Canadian diplomat and academic.
Rhodes House is a building part of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on South Parks Road in central Oxford,and was built in memory of Cecil Rhodes,an alumnus of the university and a major benefactor. It is listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England.
A Mandela Rhodes Scholarship provides full funding for up to a maximum of two years of postgraduate study for an African citizen under 30 years of age. The award is open to all African citizens under the age of 30 years and recipients must study towards Honours or master's degrees at recognised South African institutions. Although no maximum number of awards has been stipulated,the scholarships are highly competitive,with fewer than 30 scholarships being awarded each year since its inception in 2005. The scholarships cover tuition,accommodation,meals,book allowance,general allowance,and travel expenses. Recipients of the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship are students with outstanding academic achievements who also possess leadership ability,entrepreneurial skills,and a commitment to reconciliation. In addition to receiving funding for their studies,scholars also undertake a leadership development program while in residence. The award is named after Nelson Mandela and Cecil Rhodes and is administered by the Mandela Rhodes Foundation which is a partnership between Nelson Mandela and the Rhodes Trust.
Dominic Barton,known as Bao Damin in China,is a Ugandan-born Canadian business executive,author,and diplomat. He is the current chairman of the private investment firm LeapFrog Investments as well as the chancellor of the University of Waterloo. He served as the Canadian Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 2019-2021. Prior to this,Barton was the Global Managing Director of McKinsey &Company,the global consulting firm,from 2009 to 2018 and has previously served as Chairman of Teck Resources and as Non-Executive Director at the Singtel Group in Singapore and Investor AB in Sweden.
Schwarzman Scholars,founded by American financier and philanthropist Stephen A. Schwarzman,is a one-year fully-funded master's degree leadership program at Tsinghua University in Beijing,China. The program selects 100 - 200 Scholars per year based on their leadership ability,academic achievement,and commitment to advancing mutual cultural understanding and global progress. Selected scholars pursue a one-year master's degree in Global Affairs at Tsinghua University,residing at Schwarzman College.
Charles R. Conn is a Canadian and American CEO,conservationist and author. In 2021 he co-founded and is partner of Monograph,a life sciences venture firm. In 2019 he was the CEO of Oxford Sciences Innovation. Previously,he was the warden and global CEO of Rhodes House and the Rhodes Trust,the organization responsible for administering the Rhodes Scholarship from 2013 to 2018.
Dr John Rowett OBE is a British historian and academic administrator. He has served as Fellow and Tutor in History at Brasenose College,Oxford;as Warden of Rhodes House,Oxford (1999–2004);and as Secretary-General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (2004–07).)
Elliot Francis Gerson is an American nonprofit executive,formerly a lawyer,business executive and state and federal government official. He is executive vice president of The Aspen Institute,and the American Secretary of The Rhodes Trust.
Trader Classified Media NV was an international classified advertising company based in the Netherlands and run by Canadian John MacBain.