Biography
Peter Brown has contributed to the growth and prestige of Canada’s mining industry by helping many resource entrepreneurs and emerging companies gain access to venture capital that enabled them to acquire and explore promising mineral prospects or develop and operate new mines. He has been a dynamic force in the Canadian capital markets since 1968, when he joined Ted Turton in purchasing control of a small Vancouver brokerage firm for $23,000. By focusing on the small to mid-sized resource and junior industrial firms, long ignored by senior investment firms, he transformed Canaccord Capital Inc. (since renamed Cannacord Financial Inc.) into the largest independent investment dealer in Canada, with successful operations in Europe and the United States.
A third generation British Columbian, Brown began his career in the early 1960s with Greenshields Inc. in Toronto and Montreal. He returned to Vancouver in 1967 just as scandals in both the Toronto and Montreal markets greatly reduced the capital available for small and emerging companies, and in particular the risk capital desperately needed for mineral exploration and development.
Brown recognized this problem as an opportunity and boldly positioned the newly acquired firm to fill the gap in Canadian venture capital financing. In co-operation with the Vancouver Stock Exchange (which he soon served as Chairman), he worked to build a vibrant junior finance market with a particular emphasis on and expertise in mining and exploration finance. These efforts gave birth to Canadian successes such as Corona, the Hemlo discoveries, Eskay Creek and Dia Met Minerals at home, and, through the export of Canadian exploration expertise, Arequipa, Aurelian and Wheaton River abroad,
For more than 40 years, Brown has worked diligently to raise the standards for venture capital finance and make it a respected vehicle for economic growth and wealth creation in Canada and around the world. As CEO of Canaccord until 2007, he mentored the management team that shares his entrepreneurial vision, his commitment to the capital markets and his passion for global resource finance.
Brown serves as Chairman of Canaccord Financial. He is a director of the Investment Industry Association of Canada and an advisor to the Canadian Securities Transition Office; a director of the Fraser Institute, PAVCO (which operates the Vancouver Convention Centre) and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. He has chaired two provincial crown corporations as well as the Board of Governors of the University of British Columbia. His awards include the Order of British Columbia, an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from UBC, Entrepreneur of the Year (Pacific), the Prospectors and Developers Association’s Distinguished Service Award, BC and Yukon Chamber of Mines Financier Award, the Interfaith Society Person of the Year Award, the Fraser Institute Founders Award and the Commemorative Medal for the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his public service.
foundation builders
