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","NOT-COMMON",TRUE,0)" alt="" />By: Blake Friesen

Thirty years ago, Ian Telfer applied to every business school in Canada, hoping one would accept him so he could earn an MBA and find a better job.  They all rejected him on account of poor grades appearing on his transcript from the University of Toronto where in the 1960s he studied political science and earned a Bachelor of Arts.  Then, as fate would have it, days before the fall semester started he received a call from the University of Ottawa indicating one spot had opened up.  He was invited for an interview that very same day, and two days later he started classes.

He graduated with an MBA from the University of Ottawa’s business school in 1976, at the age of 30, and then took a job as a financial analyst for Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting, where he learned about strategic planning and evaluating businesses in the mining sector.  The MBA qualified him for the job at Hudson Bay and set him on a path to become one of Canada’s most successful mining figures.

Mr. Telfer, along with fellow Vancouver mining magnate Frank Giustra, went on to co-found Wheaton River Minerals Ltd., a predecessor of today’s Goldcorp Inc., which over the past 15 years he has built into the world’s largest gold company with a market capitalization of nearly US$11-billion.  The company was worth more than three times that amount in 2011, but the price of gold has dropped considerably over the past four years from highs of US$1,889 an ounce to around US$1,090, and with that the stock prices of gold production companies have also declined.  Even with a declining stock price, Goldcorp has outperformed most of its peers in the downmarket, with shareholders of Barrick Gold Corp. worse off than shareholders of Goldcorp.

In the early days of Wheaton River, while Mr. Telfer was busy building the company and adding gold mines to the company’s portfolio, he also came up with a new business model for the mining industry that entails buying silver byproduct from mines that are focused on gold or copper.  Most copper and gold mines generate a mix of other metals, including silver, that are not properly valued by the market.  Mr. Telfer decided it would be a good idea to pay these miners an upfront lump sum plus an ongoing fixed amount per ounce of silver byproduct.  The miners were happy because they could use the upfront capital for expanding production or exploring other, less-developed properties. Mr. Telfer decided this idea could prosper as a separate entity, and he spun off Silver Wheaton Corp. from his Wheaton River.  These days, Silver Wheaton has a market capitalization of US$5.11-billion. Mr. Telfer has since resigned from the Silver Wheaton board but Goldcorp remains a shareholder.

By building a multibillion-dollar gold miner (and investing in plenty of other successful mining companies over the years), Mr. Telfer, now aged 69, has become very wealthy, and with his wealth he has taken an interest in philanthropy. One of the institutions benefitting from Mr. Telfer’s philanthropic endeavours is his alma mater, the University of Ottawa.  His relationship with the university began with him setting up an endowment fund of $5,000, which Mr. Telfer said must be reserved for the last person accepted into the business school, generally the person with the lowest grades.  Then in 2007, administrators at the university were looking into naming the business school after one of its alumni, and Mr. Telfer jumped at the opportunity, donating $25-million to what is now called the Telfer School of Management.  According to the university, about 80 per cent of the donation supports an endowment to create opportunities for students and faculty members, which includes providing scholarships to students and funding to professors.  The rest went toward infrastructure.

The University of Ottawa says Mr. Telfer’s donation has done plenty of good.  The business school was able to attract world-class teaching and research talent, which it says has the cascading effect of attracting world-class students.  Five years after his donation, Mr. Telfer said to the university: “For me, the best part of this gift has been re-engaging with the university. I find it extremely energizing when I meet with former and current students and get their impressions of how they see the world and what they’re looking forward to.  It’s also immensely rewarding to connect with academia.  Working in business, there are limited opportunities for conversing with deans, administrators and professors in the field, so that has been an unexpected, enjoyable part of the experience.”

The advice he gave to budding entrepreneurs graduating from the Telfer School of Management was to stick to what you know.  “Once you start second-guessing your decisions, your confidence can suffer.  If that happens, focus on what you know best and what you feel you can make good decisions about.”

The lump sum of $25-million is the largest single donation that any business school in Canada has received.  Since then, Mr. Telfer has added to his contributions.  Earlier this year, for example, he committed a $2-million planned gift.

Mr. Telfer and his wife, Nancy Burke, are also active with many charities and non-profit organizations in Vancouver.  Nancy is an honorary director of the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation Board (she joined the board in 2009) and she was the chairman of the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival Bacchanalia Gala in 2007-2008.  As well, Mr. Telfer and his wife established the Fernwood Foundation, a charitable foundation that donates to various organizations including the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership Canada, Adoptive Families Association of B.C., the Sarah McLachlan School of Music and Collingwood School.

 By: Blake Friesen

30年前，伊恩·特尔弗（Ian Telfer）向加拿大每家商学院都提出了申请，希望能有一个学校录取他，这样他就可以获得工商管理硕士学位，由此找到一份更好的工作了。上世纪60年代，他在多伦多大学攻读政治学，并获得文学学士学位，但因成绩不好，所有学校都拒绝了他的此番申请。然而，机缘巧合的是，秋季学期开学的前几天，他接到了渥太华大学打来的一个电话，电话里说有个地方愿意让他去试一试。当天他就应邀去面试，两天后就开始上课了。

1976年，30岁的他毕业于渥太华大学商学院工商管理硕士专业，随后，在哈得逊湾开采和冶炼厂担任财务分析师，在那里，他学会了采矿业中的战略规划和企业评估。工商管理硕士学位让他有资格在哈得逊湾工作，并为他日后成为加拿大最成功的采矿业人物之一开辟了道路。

特尔弗与温哥华矿业巨头弗兰克·古斯塔（Frank Giustra）一起成立了惠顿河矿业有限公司，也就是今天的加拿大黄金公司的前身。经过15年的发展，这家公司已经成为世界上最大的黄金公司，市值将近110亿美元，是2011年的三倍以上，不过，过去四年里黄金价格大幅下降，从每盎司1,889美元的高点降到1,090美元左右，黄金生产商的股票价格也因此下跌。即使是在股票价格下跌的情况下，加拿大黄金公司在低端市场的表现也比大多数同行要略胜一筹，比如巴里克黄金公司的股东的情况就比不上加拿大黄金公司的股东。

在惠顿河矿业有限公司初期，特尔弗忙于建设公司，为公司增加黄金矿，还为采矿业提出了一种新的商业模式，主要是从金矿或铜矿山购买副产品银。大部分铜矿或者金矿里都混有其他金属，包括银这种市场估价并不合理的金属。特尔弗决定，给这些矿主一次性预付一笔钱，并为每盎司副产品银提供固定补贴，会是个好主意。矿主们对此表示欢迎，因为他们可以利用前期资金来扩大生产或开发其他尚未开发的矿产。特尔弗认为，这样的商业理念可以让一个独立的经济实体生意火起来，于是他把银惠顿公司从他的惠顿河公司中脱离出来。目前，银惠顿的市值已经达到51.1亿美元。从此，特尔弗从银惠顿董事会辞职，但还是加拿大黄金公司的股东。

通过建立一个价值几十亿美元的黄金矿业企业（并且多年来投资其他很多成功的矿业公司），现年69岁的特尔弗已非常富有，他对出资做慈善很感兴趣。他的母校渥太华大学就是从特尔弗的慈善捐赠中受益的机构之一。他与渥太华大学的关系，始于他所创建的5,000美元捐赠基金。特尔弗认为，这笔基金必须留给商学院最后录取的那个人，通常而言是成绩最差的人。2007年，正好大学管理团队寻求以某位校友的名字命名商学院，当时特尔弗抓住了这个机会，给现已更名为特尔弗管理学院的这所商学院捐赠了2,500万美元。根据该大学介绍，80%左右的捐赠用于支持为学生和教师创造机会，包括向学生提供奖学金和为教授提供研究经费。其余的用于校园基础设施建设。

渥太华大学表示，特尔弗的捐款确实很有帮助。商学院能够吸引世界一流的教学和研究人才，对吸引世界一流的学生具有连锁效应。此番捐赠五年后，特尔弗对母校说：“对我而言，这个礼物最大的用处就是让我重新回到母校的怀抱。我见到了昔日的同学和目前在读的学生，他们看待世界的方式和他们对未来的期待给我留下了深刻的印象。与学术界互通有无也是极有帮助的。因为我身在商界，与院长、行政管理人员、教授当面交流的机会很有限，因此，这是一次意想不到的愉快经历。”

对于刚从特尔弗管理学院毕业的创业新手，他的建议是，坚持做你擅长的事情。“一旦你事后开始怀疑自己的决定，你的信心会受挫。如果真发生这种情况，那就专注做你最了解的事情，以及你觉得自己能对其做出良好的决策的事情。”

此后，特尔弗又进一步捐赠了新的款项。比如，今年早些时候，他又按计划捐赠了一笔200万美元的善款。

特尔弗和妻子南希·伯克（Nancy Burke），也积极参与温哥华的一些慈善事业和非营利组织。南希是狮门医院基金会董事会的名誉董事（她于2009年加入董事会），还担任了2007-2008年的温哥华Playhouse国际葡萄酒节节日晚会的主席。特尔弗和他的妻子还成立了芬伍德基金会，为多个组织机构捐赠，包括加拿大克林顿·古斯塔企业合作伙伴（Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership Canada）、卑诗省收养家庭协会（Adoptive Families Association of B.C.）、莎拉·麦克拉克兰音乐学校（Sarah McLachlan School of Music）以及科林伍德中学（Collingwood School）。