Michael Lee-Chin Net Worth & Biography

Michael Lee-Chin is the chairman and president of Portland Holdings (Portland). He is widely respected and regarded as a visionary entrepreneur whose viewpoint of “doing well and doing good” has led to extraordinary business success and inspirational philanthropic initiatives. In 1983, at the age of 32, he borrowed money to buy $500,000 worth of Mackenzie Financial stock. Four years later, the stock was valued seven-fold and Lee-Chin used the profits to purchase a small investment firm called AIC Limited, based in Ontario, Canada. At the time, Advantage Investment Counsel (a branch of AIC Limited) had assets of $800,000 under management. Within 20 years, and at its business peak, Advantage Investment Counsel grew to more than $15 billion. In 2009, a leading Canadian financial services group acquired Advantage Investment Counsel’s retail investment fund business. Today, Michael Lee-Chin remains committed to creating wealth for investors. In addition to his works at Portland Investment Counsel Inc., he sits on various boards throughout the Caribbean and in Canada.

Early Life: Childhood, Education

The Jamaican-Canadian businessman, Michael Lee-Chin, who is currently the chief executive officer of the Ontario, Canada-based privately held investment company, Portland Holdings Inc, was born on 3 January 1951 in Port Antonio, Jamaica, to Aston Lee and Hyacinth Gloria Chen. His parents were biracial African and Chinese-Jamaican.

When he was aged seven, Lee-Chin’s mother married Vincent Chen. She sold Avon products and worked for various local firms as a bookkeeper, while his stepfather managed a local grocery store.

Between 1962 and 1969, Lee-Chin attended the local high school, Titchfield High.

Professional Life: Entrepreneurial Career

In 1965, Michael Lee-Chin found his first job came as a part of the Frenchman’s Cove Hotel’s landscaping team. The following year, he got a job cleaning the engine room of the Jamaica Queen cruise ship. Four years later, he went to Canada to study Civil Engineering at McMaster University on a scholarship program that the Jamaican government-sponsored. He graduated in 1974. He financed his freshman year at college but was able to attend on scholarship after that.

After graduating from McMaster University, he worked briefly for the Jamaican government as a road engineer as he wasn’t able to find work in his qualified field. Lee-Chin returned to Canada and started graduate studies in business. He found a job as a bouncer and maintained it until he was employed as a financial advisor for Investors Group. He spent two years at this in their Hamilton, Ontario office and later moved to Regal Capital Planners in 1979 and became regional manager. Four years into his job at the company, he secured a loan of $500,000 from the Continental Bank of Canada to purchase a stake in Mackenzie Financial Group. He also formed Kicks Athletics with Andrew Gayle. By 1987, his investment in Mackenzie was worth $3.5 million. He then took the proceeds to purchase his first business, a Kitchener-based firm called the Advantage Investment Council. It cost him $200,000. At the time, the company’s holdings were worth around $800,000. He renamed the company and developed it into a business that currently controls around $6 billion, with thousands of investors. Following the acquisition of AIC Limited, he set up the Berkshire group of companies that comprises an investment planning arm, an insurance operation, and a securities’ dealership. By 2007, the firm had amassed over $12 billion worth of assets under administration. In 2007, Berkshire was sold to Manulife by Portland Holdings in exchange for shares. This deal made Portland one of the top shareholders of Manulife. In 2009, Lee-Chin sold his AIC Limited to Manulife.

In addition to being the founder, chief executive officer, and Chairman of Portland Holdings Inc., Michael Lee-Chin also serves as the chairman and director of Mandeville Holdings Inc. He is also the executive chairman, portfolio manager, and chief executive officer of Portland Investment Counsel Inc.

Achievements: Awards & Honors

Mr. Lee-Chin was, in 2017, appointed to the Order of Ontario for his numerous contributions to various causes in Canada. In 2016, the government of Jamaica appointed him chairman of the Economic Growth Council (EGC) in Jamaica.

Canadian Business has named him as one of the richest Canadians alive.

Charity Works

Michael Lee-Chin has made several pledges and huge donations to the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada, and also the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. The Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation and McMaster University are also beneficiaries of his kind gestures.

Lee-Chin was once the chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University.

Michael Lee-Chin Net Worth: Salary, Income Sources, Assets

The 71-year-old Jamaican-Canadian business magnate, investor, and philanthropist, Michael Lee-Chin, is worth more than a billion dollars as of 2022. The major source of his money is Portland Holdings Inc. which he heads as chairman and chief executive officer. He has also held several other valuable positions at a number of other establishments, which, in their own ways, contributed to building up his net worth.

Lee-Chin is also the chairman of the National Commercial Bank of Jamaica. He has owned or managed Columbus Communications which includes Trident Hotel resort, Reggae Beach resort, Radio Jamaica, Senvia, Eastern Caribbean Gas Pipeline Company, and Sauce Cable Company. His Portland Holdings Inc. includes companies in financial services, media, tourism, and healthcare.