Aaron Regent

Aaron William Regent (born 5 January 1966) is a Canadian chartered accountant and businessman who is the current chairman of the board of the Bank of Nova Scotia. Regent began his career in 1988 as an accountant with Ernst & Young. From 1991 to 2008, Regent worked for Brascan and served in senior roles with its power and mining subsidiaries. In January 2009, Regent became president of Barrick Gold, and held the position until June 2012. In 2013 he founded Magris Resources, of which he remains the chairman. Regent was elected a director of the Bank of Nova Scotia in April 2013, and in April 2019 was elected chairman of the board.

Biography
Aaron William Regent was born in Dublin, Ireland on 5 January 1966 to Albert William Regent and Claire Elizabeth Cooper (1935–2020). The Regent family immigrated to Canada in 1967 and settled in Calgary. Aaron attended the University of Western Ontario, where he graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1988. Regent began his career that year as a staff accountant with Ernst & Young. In 1991 he was hired by Brascan as a vice-president, and concurrently was made vice-president of its subsidiary company Great Lakes Power. In 1995 he became a senior vice-president of Brascan. From 1995 to 2000 he served as president of Trilon Financial Corporation, the financial services arm of Brascan. Regent was president of Noranda, also owned by Brascan, from 2000 to 2002, then from 2002 to 2006 was president of another Brascan mining company, Falconbridge. Brascan was renamed Brookfield Asset Management in 2005, and from September 2006 to December 2008 Regent was a senior managing partner in the firm.

In January 2009, Regent left the Brascan-Brookfield group and became president of Barrick Gold. He replaced Peter Munk, who had been acting president since Gregory Charles Wilkins resigned earlier in 2008 for health reasons. In June 2012, Regent was fired due to an underperforming share price. He was replaced by Jamie Sokalsky.

After his departure from Barrick, in 2013 he founded Magris Resources, a private equity company that acquires mining assets globally. Regent was elected a director of the Bank of Nova Scotia on 9 April 2013. In 2019, he was elected chairman of the board, effective 9 April, succeeding Thomas Charles O'Neill.

Regent is a vice-chairman of the C. D. Howe Institute, and hosts an event series called the Regent Debates.