New Teck Cominco chief Don Lindsay is a 'student of the mining industry'

摘要

Don Lindsay is a very likeable guy-soft-spoken and boyishly fit-looking. A mid-April interview in Vancouver revealed that Lindsay combines a thoroughly analytical mind with a keen interest in people. The 46-year-old Toronto native earned a BSc in mining engineering from Queen's University (Kingston, Ont.) in 1980. ("I'm probably one of those people who went to Queen's and never got over it," said Lindsay.) His initial post-graduation job was at Iron Ore Co. in Labrador City, first as foreman and then involved in mine planning and design. He soon moved into mine finance, doing an MBA at Harvard University (Boston, Mass.), and then joining Wood Gundy in 1985, to start up its mining group. The group has since grown to six offices around the world, and is part of CIBC World Markets Inc. He left CIBC World Markets in 2004, where he was president, as well as head of investment and corporate banking, and head of the Asia Pacific region. Of his time with CIBC, he says, "You really become a student of the industry, because you're studying the strategies of different companies, trying to figure out what their next move might be. To do that well you need to know the chief executives of most of the companies, and they have to trust you. It's a thrill to be involved with some of those people and the deals."