FAIRBANK INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED
|
Fairbank started up on Jan. 1, 2009, one day after John retired from Sprucegrove. “We started with a small office space at 66 Centre St. (two blocks from home) in Thornhill,” he says. And that’s how it was supposed to remain: John, his wife, Josie (who was going to do the bookkeeping from home), and the four clients. And then a strange thing happened along the way. Business never stands still! In March of 2010, John was approached by Joanna Wolff while working from his Sarasota office on Siesta Key in Florida. She just happened to be married to the CFO at Sprucegrove, Mark Wolff. Joanna wanted to work for John. “She was very convincing,” he says, “I told her I couldn’t afford to pay her, but she said she just wanted me to train her and was willing to work for nothing.” Although this raised some questions about her sanity, says John, six months later, Joanna was doing a very good job. “I was embarrassed about not paying her, and she has been there ever since,” he adds. Joanna has been with Fairbank for five years now, and has just attained her CFA designation. The hiring of Joanna allowed John to expand the business and open up the doors to a few more people who wanted him to manage their money so, very soon, four clients became 10 clients!
In the spring of 2011, John’s son, Andrew, who had been working as an investment advisor for Scotiabank for the previous 10 years, approached him. “I told him that if there was ever a time to consider going into business with his father, this was the time to do it. No pressure, but no use thinking about it in 10 years, as it would be too late.” But John also said the very same thing that his own father had said to him many years earlier: “As long as you’re happy going to work every day in your chosen vocation, you have it made.” Andrew joined the firm on Aug. 1, 2011, and he brought 10 clients with him, so now the firm had 20 clients. In April of 2012, his wife’s childhood friend, Franca Williams, who had a 35-year career with TD Bank as a branch manager, and for the last 15 years selling investment products in the Woodbridge area (taking natural advantage of her Italian roots), was offered a package from the bank. |
The original plan for Fairbank Investment Management Ltd. was simply this: John, his wife, Josie, and a few clients. But something happened along the way.
|
“One day, I said, ‘Franca, we are getting a little behind at the office, we could use some help, maybe you could come by a few days a week and help out.’ ’’ She did, and Franca never left, now she handles all noninvestment functions at Fairbank including administration, compliance and client service. “Franca provided us with the much-needed back office capacity to enable us to further increase our client base,” says John.
John likes to give back, and summer internships go back a long way to the days at Confederation Life. “There have been very few years over that time that we have not hired a summer intern,” says John, who likes to hire a summer intern every year, usually an MBA student from the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management, preferably with a plan to enroll in the second-year Value Investing course (the Chair for this course was endowed by John in 2004 and is currently held by Professor Eric Kirzner). “I probably have a network of about 30 summer students that I have trained over the years,” says Watson. “It’s a great way to stay connected and find out what’s happening. I can pick up the phone and talk to any one of them.” One of those students was Hisham Yakub. Hisham worked at Fairbank in the summer of 2012. “I thought to myself, I’d like to hire this guy when he graduates if we can afford it.” And apparently, Hisham felt the same way, as he approached John when he graduated, saying he was looking for a job and he wanted to work with people whom he admired. Hisham joined Fairbank on a full-time basis in July 2013. Now Fairbank was up to six employees and approximately 30 clients.
Another remarkable event happened in 2013 with the seeding of the Fairbank Pooled Value Fund (FPVF) on July 31st with John as the inaugural investor. The FPVF did not actually make any investments until the first week of November as a third-party broker had to be retained to execute trades and this took more time than had been originally anticipated. Nevertheless, it represented the advent of a second platform upon which to build the business.
2014 was an eventful year for the firm! A few things happened. First, John had his eye on Blair Wilson, whom he had known since he was born. Blair’s father, Roger, was a cofounder of Coleford Investment Management, and was John’s first stockbroker in 1967 when he was with Nesbitt Thompson. Roger’s Uncle Roger, who had been employed at Goodwin Harris and was John’s father’s stockbroker, introduced the boys. The relationship actually went back even further as Uncle Roger’s wife, Margaret Ferguson, was the only daughter of Bob Ferguson, a good pal of John’s grandfather, J.T. Watson. It was John who had encouraged the young Roger Wilson to obtain his CFA designation, which helped at the margin when he and his cofounding partners were establishing Coleford.
“I like to believe that I was somewhat instrumental in helping Blair along the way,” says John. “Over the years, I would chat with him from time to time as we discussed investment opportunities. He also accompanied us on one of our annual pilgrimages to Omaha to attend the Berkshire Hathaway Annual General Meeting. I told him, ‘Blair, when I can afford you, I will come looking for you.’” When I met with Blair to discuss our future partnership I made it clear that I was interested first and foremost in training him as a research analyst, the way we do research at Fairbank and that obtaining clients from the relationship was secondary. Blair and I came to terms in the summer of 2014, and he joined Fairbank officially on Oct. 1 and brought along a loyal group of clients.” Suddenly, Fairbank was up to 50 clients.
The second material event that happened in 2014 was that John was having lunch with an old friend and former colleague, Clive Curtis. Clive and John went back a long way to the ’60s, when Clive was employed at the North American Life and John at Confederation Life. In 1984, John hired Curtis to manage the United States investment operations at Confederation Life. Three years earlier at a breakfast in the west end, Clive had inquired about the possibility of moving his client base to Fairbank. Although John was favorable to the concept, he did not feel that he had the back office organization to assimilate Clive’s clients in an effective manner. At the luncheon in the summer of 2014, it was John who asked Clive if he would still be interested in moving his clients to Fairbank. “We were able to consummate a deal and shook hands on it at the lunch. Of course, as King Lear said, “Nothing comes of nothing,” says John. Clive and John both knew that it would take a lot of hard work on Clive’s part and the team at Fairbank to convince clients that it was in their best interest to join Fairbank and make this arrangement work effectively for both parties. And that is how Fairbank Investment Management arrived at eight full-time staff, approximately 60 clients and managing more than $131 million.
Remember KPMG? They audit the books for Fairbank now, and to the best of our knowledge continue to audit the books for Sprucegrove. The senior partner, Scott Wetmore, is about to retire, and he has been the KPMG partner overseeing the Sprucegrove and Fairbank audits. “KPMG has had a huge influence on my career, because the partners whom I have had the privilege of getting to know over the years have not only been providers of accounting, auditing and consulting services, but they have been mentors and advisors to my family and me. Fairbank Lumber would never have become as successful as they did without them, nor would Sprucegrove or Fairbank Investment Management now,” says John.
“It’s all about relationships, it’s all about trust, it’s all about loyalty,” says John, “That’s how we got to where we are today!” Trust, loyalty and relationships: that’s what’s in a name with a view. Lessons learned and passed down through the years and the generations, from fathers to sons, building business on mutual trust with clients and honouring the heritage, for decades, and even centuries later. It’s not about the short term, it’s all about the long term, taking the time to build a solid foundation with a view to the future.
John likes to give back, and summer internships go back a long way to the days at Confederation Life. “There have been very few years over that time that we have not hired a summer intern,” says John, who likes to hire a summer intern every year, usually an MBA student from the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management, preferably with a plan to enroll in the second-year Value Investing course (the Chair for this course was endowed by John in 2004 and is currently held by Professor Eric Kirzner). “I probably have a network of about 30 summer students that I have trained over the years,” says Watson. “It’s a great way to stay connected and find out what’s happening. I can pick up the phone and talk to any one of them.” One of those students was Hisham Yakub. Hisham worked at Fairbank in the summer of 2012. “I thought to myself, I’d like to hire this guy when he graduates if we can afford it.” And apparently, Hisham felt the same way, as he approached John when he graduated, saying he was looking for a job and he wanted to work with people whom he admired. Hisham joined Fairbank on a full-time basis in July 2013. Now Fairbank was up to six employees and approximately 30 clients.
Another remarkable event happened in 2013 with the seeding of the Fairbank Pooled Value Fund (FPVF) on July 31st with John as the inaugural investor. The FPVF did not actually make any investments until the first week of November as a third-party broker had to be retained to execute trades and this took more time than had been originally anticipated. Nevertheless, it represented the advent of a second platform upon which to build the business.
2014 was an eventful year for the firm! A few things happened. First, John had his eye on Blair Wilson, whom he had known since he was born. Blair’s father, Roger, was a cofounder of Coleford Investment Management, and was John’s first stockbroker in 1967 when he was with Nesbitt Thompson. Roger’s Uncle Roger, who had been employed at Goodwin Harris and was John’s father’s stockbroker, introduced the boys. The relationship actually went back even further as Uncle Roger’s wife, Margaret Ferguson, was the only daughter of Bob Ferguson, a good pal of John’s grandfather, J.T. Watson. It was John who had encouraged the young Roger Wilson to obtain his CFA designation, which helped at the margin when he and his cofounding partners were establishing Coleford.
“I like to believe that I was somewhat instrumental in helping Blair along the way,” says John. “Over the years, I would chat with him from time to time as we discussed investment opportunities. He also accompanied us on one of our annual pilgrimages to Omaha to attend the Berkshire Hathaway Annual General Meeting. I told him, ‘Blair, when I can afford you, I will come looking for you.’” When I met with Blair to discuss our future partnership I made it clear that I was interested first and foremost in training him as a research analyst, the way we do research at Fairbank and that obtaining clients from the relationship was secondary. Blair and I came to terms in the summer of 2014, and he joined Fairbank officially on Oct. 1 and brought along a loyal group of clients.” Suddenly, Fairbank was up to 50 clients.
The second material event that happened in 2014 was that John was having lunch with an old friend and former colleague, Clive Curtis. Clive and John went back a long way to the ’60s, when Clive was employed at the North American Life and John at Confederation Life. In 1984, John hired Curtis to manage the United States investment operations at Confederation Life. Three years earlier at a breakfast in the west end, Clive had inquired about the possibility of moving his client base to Fairbank. Although John was favorable to the concept, he did not feel that he had the back office organization to assimilate Clive’s clients in an effective manner. At the luncheon in the summer of 2014, it was John who asked Clive if he would still be interested in moving his clients to Fairbank. “We were able to consummate a deal and shook hands on it at the lunch. Of course, as King Lear said, “Nothing comes of nothing,” says John. Clive and John both knew that it would take a lot of hard work on Clive’s part and the team at Fairbank to convince clients that it was in their best interest to join Fairbank and make this arrangement work effectively for both parties. And that is how Fairbank Investment Management arrived at eight full-time staff, approximately 60 clients and managing more than $131 million.
Remember KPMG? They audit the books for Fairbank now, and to the best of our knowledge continue to audit the books for Sprucegrove. The senior partner, Scott Wetmore, is about to retire, and he has been the KPMG partner overseeing the Sprucegrove and Fairbank audits. “KPMG has had a huge influence on my career, because the partners whom I have had the privilege of getting to know over the years have not only been providers of accounting, auditing and consulting services, but they have been mentors and advisors to my family and me. Fairbank Lumber would never have become as successful as they did without them, nor would Sprucegrove or Fairbank Investment Management now,” says John.
“It’s all about relationships, it’s all about trust, it’s all about loyalty,” says John, “That’s how we got to where we are today!” Trust, loyalty and relationships: that’s what’s in a name with a view. Lessons learned and passed down through the years and the generations, from fathers to sons, building business on mutual trust with clients and honouring the heritage, for decades, and even centuries later. It’s not about the short term, it’s all about the long term, taking the time to build a solid foundation with a view to the future.
|
< Sprucegrove Investment Management Limited
|