Ian Telfer

Ian Telfer has been a transformative force in the international mining industry for more than 35 years. A chartered accountant by training, the entrepreneur, financier, mine builder, and industry innovator has founded numerous companies with assets throughout the Americas, Asia, and Australia including TVX Gold, NewGold, Silver Wheaton (now Wheaton Precious Metals) and Goldcorp. Mr. Telfer is also credited with inventing the metal streaming business, which is now comprised of several multi billion-dollar companies. 

“I like creating companies because they provide opportunities for people. By providing jobs, incomes and career paths, people have a chance to create their own success, to see how far they can go. An organization like Goldcorp creates that opportunity for a large number of people, and that’s what drives me.”

Seventeen years ago, Mr. Telfer founded Goldcorp’s predecessor, Wheaton River Minerals. He has served as Goldcorp’s chief executive officer and later as Chairman, rapidly growing the company from six employees to become one of the world’s premier senior gold producers, which now employs almost 20,000 people.

Mr. Telfer’s personal commitment to giving back is also a deeply embedded core value at Goldcorp, which has donated over $100 million to health, education, and the arts in the communities in which it operates. In 2007 he personally donated $25 million to what is now known as the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa. At the time, it was the largest single gift ever given to a Canadian business school.

In 2007 he received the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He served as Chairman of the World Gold Council from 2009 to 2013 and was named one of Canada’s top 25 most powerful business people by Canadian Business Magazine in 2013.

In 2015 he was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame and in 2016 he was honoured as a Laureate of the British Columbia Business Hall of Fame.