Mr. Chou is the President of the Toronto-based Chou Associates Management Inc. Mr. Chou, a CFA, ended his formal education at Grade 12. While working as a technician for a phone company in 1981, he started an investment club that would later become the Associates fund. Mr. Chou has operated two of the country’s most successful funds, Chou Associates Fund and Chou RRSP fund, for the last 20 years. In 2005, the Canadian Investment Award named him the fund manager of the decade. His approach is to “find bargains and maintain discipline; if you can not find bargains stay in cash”.

The  financial  media  have   extensively   covered  Francis’   style  and  successes over the years. The latest media article on Francis can be read here.

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Mr. Larry Sarbit, Sarbit Asset Management Inc., Winnipeg, Manitoba (April 24, 2008)

Mr. Sarbit, a Canadian financial services veteran, is the founder, president and CEO of Sarbit Asset Management Inc. After obtaining a BA honors and an MA degree in Geography from York University, Larry started his career in 1979 with Richardson Securities as an analyst. Larry went on to become a portfolio manager for Investors Group in 1987. He managed the US Growth Fund (now called IG US Large Cap Value Fund) from November 1987 - March 1998. Larry inherited just over $185 million in assets, and by the time of his departure from Investors Group, he was managing over $3 billion in assets. In November 1999, Larry went to AIC and launched the AIC American Focused Fund. He managed the AIC Focused Fund from November 22, 1999 - March 29, 2005 managing to grow the fund’s assets from 0 to just over $2.2 billion. With over 26 years of experience, Larry is an industry leader with a proven track record and a strong reputation for achieving superior results. Undeterred by industry fads and trends, Larry has consistently returned above average gains by following his successful investment philosophy of buying a great business at a bargain price, while managing with discipline and patience. 

Mr. Buffett, the world's best known investor and one of the world's richest persons, has invited Dr. George Athanassakos, and a group of his HBA and MBA Value Investing students to visit with him at the company's headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska on March 31, 2008. The visit will give Ivey students a once in a life time opportunity to meet with one of the best value investors in the world, also known as "the Oracle of Omaha".

Mr. Warren Buffett is chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.  Mr. Buffett was a student of Benjamin Graham at Columbia University and under Mr. Graham's guidance he learned his Value Investing skills. The Richard Ivey School of Business is one of only two Universities in the world to offer a formal program in Value Investing and Dr. Athanassakos' chair is named after Mr. Buffett's mentor Mr. Graham.  Berkshire Hathaway's core business is insurance, including property and casualty insurance, reinsurance and specialty nonstandard insurance. In addition, Berkshire owns a diverse range of businesses including candy production, retail, home furnishings, encyclopaedias, vacuum cleaners, jewellery sales, newspaper publishing, manufacturing and distribution of uniforms and manufacturing, importing and distribution of footwear. Under Mr. Buffett, the Company has averaged a 25%+ annual return to its shareholders for the last 25 years while employing large amounts of capital and minimal debt.

See more information on the trip, including photos, takeaways from meeting Mr. Buffet and an MBA student's blog detailing the experience of the visit.

Mr. Robert (Bob) Tattersall is Executive Vice-President and Senior Portfolio Manager of Howson Tattersall. He holds an M.A. from St. John’s College, Cambridge (1969) and an MBA from Ohio State University (1971). Bob earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1977 and is a recognized expert on small cap stocks in Canada. Over an investment career spanning over thirty years, he has been a senior research analyst and a portfolio manager. He lectures on investments for pension funds at Humber College and has written numerous articles for professional journals. Bob joined Howson Tattersall in 1985, after a career at Confederation Life and Bolton Tremblay. Bob’s responsibilities include Canadian small cap equities as well as international equities.

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“Mr. Schloss started on Wall Street in 1934, at the age of 18, in the midst of the depression (working for Loeb Roades, then called Carl M. Loeb & Co). During the late 1930’s, Schloss took courses from Benjamin Graham at the New York Stock Exchange Institute. He was in good company. His fellow students included Gus Levy, head of the arbitrage department of Goldman Sachs; Cy Winters of Abraham, at one time president of the New York Society of Security Analysts; and other Wall Street heavyweights. At the time Schloss was working at Carl M. Loeb and Company, Graham’s brother Leon was a customer’s man at the firm and Graham kept his account there, allowing Schloss to confirm that Graham did indeed practice what he preached in class. Graham hired Schloss in 1946 as soon as Walter was discharged from the service” (from “Value Investing” by Greenwald, Kahn, Sonkin and van Biema, 2001, p. 265). The rest is history. Mr. Schloss started his limited partnership in the middle of 1955. In 1963, he earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Waller’s son Edwin joined the partnership in 1973 and the fund changed its name to Walter & Edwin Schloss Associates. Over the period 1956 to 2000, Mr. Schloss and his son Edwin provided investors a compounded return of 15.3% compared with the S&P 500’s annual compounded return on 11.5%.

Watch Mr. Schloss' presentation