Pierre Lassonde has long believed that a nation’s natural resources are not its commodities, but its people. He proved this true during his own exemplary career as a professional engineer, astute investor, innovative financier, entrepreneurial company builder, dedicated philanthropist, and senior statesman of Canada’s mining and investment industries.

Geologists and prospectors had searched for diamond deposits in North America for more than a century with only teasing hints of success until the discovery of a cluster of kimberlites in the Northwest Territories that became Ekati, Canada’s first diamond mine.