Bio

Mark S. Bonham is the Executive Director of The Veritas Foundation, a registered Canadian Charity.  He is also a Senior Fellow of Massey College, University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (2023). Mark received an Honourary Doctorate from Toronto Metropolitan University for his exceptional contributions to business, education, and philanthropy (2024).  Mark is a member of the Board of Directors of CreateTO, the organization which manages the City of Toronto’s $27 billion in real estate holdings, and Toronto Portlands Company, which manages the development of Toronto’s port lands.  He is also on the Global Board of Human Rights Watch.

Mark received his M.Sc. (Econ), with a focus on Capital Markets Theory, from the London School of Economics (1986), a B.Comm. from the University of Toronto (1982), completed the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD)-Rotman Directors Education Course (2023), and is a Fellow, Life Office Management Association (1982).

Mark was named the Outstanding Philanthropist of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) in 2018.  He was included in the Financial Times of London (UK) OUTstanding Global LGBT Business Leaders list in 2017.  Mark is a co-founder, Secretary-Treasurer, and Board Member of the LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors Canada Association. 

After an extensive career in the Canadian financial industry and having founded two successful mutual fund companies in Canada (see Professional), Mark is completing his financial book A History of the Canadian Financial Industry, 1900 to Present.

Mark has endowed several Chairs in Finance and a  two-year full graduate scholarship for MBA students at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, in Toronto, Canada.  Today, there are 23 Bonham Scholar graduates that are active alumni of the school and the business studies program.

Mark is a contributor and author to The Canadian Encyclopedia on the subject of the financial industry.

A former member of the Board of Directors and co-founder of the Canadian Business History Association (CBHA/ACHA), Mark has edited two CBHA/ACHA books:  Trade-Offs: The History of Canada-U.S. Trade Negotiations (2019) and  Becoming 150: 150 Years of Canadian Business History (2018).

Mark is on the Board of Directors, and is Chief Fundraiser, for the children’s charity We Are The Villagers.  The organization provides funding to children of low income families in northern Ontario to allow them to participate in extra-curricular sports and arts programs.  Under Mark’s fundraising leadership, WATV has grown from 165 children and $40,000 in funding (2014) to $175,000 and 600 children located in 19 communities (2022).

An active member of the LGBTQ community, Mark has endowed the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto.  He co-chaired the successful $12 million capital campaign to create  Friends of Ruby, the city of Toronto’s first LGBTQ homeless youth shelter, which opened in 2021.  The Casey House Hospital (an AIDS-specialty hospital) in Toronto expanded with a lead gift and the leadership of a capital campaign by Mark and opened its doors in 2017.   He is the author of three LGBTQ books to date: A Path to Diversity: LGBTQ Participation in the Working World (2017); Notables: 101 Global LGBTQ People who Changed the World (2015) and Champions: Biographies of Global LGBTQ Pioneers (2014).

Mark joined the Monument Advisory Committee of the LGBTQ2S+ Purge Fund in 2019 to advise on the national monument dedicated to the community and Purge Survivors in the nation’s capital, Ottawa.

Mark is a co-founder and Managing Editor of the online biographical encyclopedia QueerBio.com, a source of biographical information on over 20,000 historical and contemporary LGBTQ individuals from around the world in the categories of sports, business, the arts & entertainment, literature & poetry, activists, politicians, and much more.  In 2023, QueerBio.com had over twenty one million page views worldwide!

Mark is the Chief Fundraiser of the Friends of Allan Gardens, which is completing a 3-year refurbishment of the historic glasshouse in this public park and is planning a $52 million expansion.  Mark was the Board Chair of the Toronto Botanical Garden.  He  led the team on the proposed $52 million expansion of the garden which is destined to make it a pre-eminent cultural and tourist attraction for the City of Toronto.  In 2017, Mark joined the City’s Ravine Strategy Leadership Board.

In addition to the awards listed above, Mark is the recipient of numerous other awards and honours, including the Inaugural Alumni of Influence Award from the University of Toronto (2012), the Clarkson Laureateship in Public Service (2016), the Casey Award (2019), the MCC Hope & Freedom Award (2012),  and is a Member of the Group of 175, being the 175 most influential graduates of the University of Toronto (2002).