John H. Watson, MBA, CFA
President & Portfolio Manager

John started his career at Confederation Life as an investment analyst in 1967 where he rose to the position of Senior Vice President of Investments. In 1989, he was appointed President of Confederation Investment Counseling. In 1993, he co-founded Sprucegrove Investment Management Limited, which specializes in global equity investing. During this time he was the Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager for North American equities. John retired from Sprucegrove at the end of 2008 and founded Fairbank Investment Management in 2009. 

John has been a passionate student of value investing as taught by Warren Buffett and his mentor Benjamin Graham. Some years ago John endowed a chair in “value” investing at the Rotman School of Management in Toronto. His favourite investment book continues to be Security Analysis by Graham & Dodd.

John holds a Bachelor of Commerce and MBA from the University of Toronto, and received the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 1973.