Convocation Speaker John Barford Honorary Degree Recipient Wednesday, June 19, 2024, 10:00 a.m.
manufacturers of domestic and commercial water heaters in North America, with sales exhibiting a substantial growth, there was a remarkable 212.5% increase over the span of 5 years. GSW was sold in 2006. Beyond his corporate leadership roles, Barford was a board member of Toronto Foundation from 2006-2018, and its chair from 2014 to 2018. During that time, he was introduced to an amazing group of women and men leading not-for-profit agencies focused on building a better city for everyone. He has been a board member of St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation since 2006 and was its chair from 2018 to 2021. He has led an initiative to establish an endowed Chair for Inner City Health - the first of its kind globally – to help in understanding and working to eliminate inner city health and addiction issues. Barford and his wife Jocelyn were co-lead donors and instrumental in leading a $42 million campaign to build a centre for Multiple Sclerosis. The 30,000 square-foot BARLO MS Centre opened in 2021 and is recognized as a global leader in patient care, research, and education. Barford is currently President of Valleydene Corporation, a private investment holding company based in Toronto. He is also the lead Director of the Advisory board of the KingSett Canadian Real Estate Income Fund and serves as an advisor to the InvestEco Private Equity Fund. He is a trustee and foundation board member of Trinity College School and the Bickle-Wilder Foundation. He has served on several public and private corporate boards. Barford is a graduate of the Owners, Presidents, and Managers Program (2000) at Harvard Business School and a member of Young Presidents’ Organization and Chief Executives Organization. Barford and his wife, Jocelyn, reside in Toronto and are the proud parents and grandparents of four children and two grandchildren.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, John Barford moved with his family to Toronto at a young age and attended Trinity College School in Port Hope. Upon graduation he enrolled at Western University, graduating in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. Shortly after he moved to Calgary, Alberta and, after a brief stint driving a laundry truck, he began his career in the oil and gas industry where he worked as a landman, initially with Aquitaine Company of Canada. Barford returned to Toronto in 1991 to work for Valleydene Corporation Limited, a private investment holding company. Valleydene had holdings in real estate, warehousing, the oil and gas service sector, and was the controlling shareholder of GSW Inc., a publicly listed manufacturer of consumer durable products with five divisions throughout North America. John became the chair of GSW and, after the acquisition of a major competitor based in Tennessee, GSW became one of the largest
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