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Stephen Smith is a remarkably widespread identify in Canadian enterprise. There’s Stephen Smith the marketer; a Stephen Smith in structured finance; Stephen Smith the chartered monetary analyst; and Stephen Smith the purposes workforce lead.

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In fact, there’s additionally Stephen Smith the Canadian billionaire and monetary providers tycoon, who has an unusual expertise for making huge portions of cash whereas typically staying out of the highlight.

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A lot in order that when Smith, whose center initials are J.R., donated $50 million to Queen’s College and the Kingston, Ont.-based establishment renamed its enterprise faculty after him, navy blue t-shirts with the phrases — “Get to know Smith” — have been produced in his honour, as a result of nobody at his alma mater actually knew that a lot about him.

“Stephen is as modest as they arrive,” John Ruffolo, the enterprise capitalist who cycles with Smith and is aware of him socially, stated. “You’ll by no means know that he was a billionaire. However I do should let you know — and I don’t know the way previous he’s — however that man is hard as nails, and he’s an excellent bicycle owner.”

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For the report, that man is in his early seventies and is excellent at many issues, together with constructing and shopping for firms. Smith is the Smith in Smith Monetary Corp., which is buying mortgage lender House Capital Group Inc. for $44 a share in a deal valuing the corporate at $1.7 billion.

He’s additionally co-founder of First Nationwide Monetary Corp., a mortgage lender and mortgage-backed securities {industry} disruptor, began in 1988. He’s chair and part-owner of Canada Warranty Mortgage Insurance coverage Co., in addition to the most important shareholder in different lender, Equitable Financial institution.

Simply in case that’s not sufficient to maintain a fellow busy, he’s chair of Historica Canada, the not-for-profit behind the Canada Heritage Minutes. Anthony Wilson-Smith, chief govt of Historica Canada, has identified Smith for greater than a decade, however has by no means identified him to relaxation on his laurels, or, for that matter, relaxation in any respect.

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“He has by no means truly stated this to me, however I’d say his greatest concern is that he doesn’t need to get bored,” Smith stated. “He has received all the cash he might ever want, and but right here he’s making this very massive deal proper now.”

The billionaire is actually all enterprise at Historica Canada board conferences. Conferences begin when they’re scheduled to begin and finish when they’re scheduled to finish, and, with out fail, all of the agenda objects are ticked.

This thoroughness might, plausibly, have one thing to do with Smith’s childhood. He was a ham radio hobbyist and a pc geek again when computer systems have been the dimensions of small buildings. He received into coding, studied electrical engineering at Queen’s, after which studied some extra on the London Faculty of Economics earlier than working a collection of jobs at Philips Electronics, Canadian Pacific Ltd. and plane producer Hawker Siddeley.

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Smith has stated the expertise of working for another person taught him that he was smarter than his bosses and higher suited to being an entrepreneur. That’s the path he took when he began shopping for and flipping homes in Toronto within the early Nineteen Eighties, earlier than it turned the cool factor to do.

Sadly, rising rates of interest and dangerous selections would wipe him out. Smith declared private chapter, moved in together with his sister and brother-in-law, and puzzled if he would ever regain his confidence.

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“When every thing is gone, you surprise if you happen to’ll ever have the arrogance to make the correct resolution about something once more,” he as soon as advised a Queen’s alumni occasion. “However the one approach to cope with it’s to simply discover a job, rise up every morning, and go to work, and, little by little, rebuild your self-confidence.”

Smith and his associate, Moray Tawse, began First Nationwide in 1988 as a mortgage lender, however they noticed a chance early on to increase into mortgage-backed securities. By placing the pc geek’s coding expertise to good use, they have been capable of keep forward of the competitors amid the know-how revolution in monetary providers.

First Nationwide right this moment has a market cap of greater than $2 billion. Its co-founder, in the meantime, has a brand new buy on his fingers, House Capital Group. His identify could be widespread, however his accomplishments are something however.

“You’ll by no means know the way profitable Stephen is,” Ruffolo stated. “He isn’t a grasping man, he does this for the mental stimulation, and he’s extremely shrewd.”

• Electronic mail: joconnor@nationalpost.com | Twitter: oconnorwrites