The Bawdens - Financiers for Over a Century

Harry Norman Bawden

Born in 1898, Harry Norman Bawden joined the 18th Canadian Battalion when he was eighteen. He fought and survived the battlefields of France, Germany and Vimy Ridge. After graduating with a Law Degree from Osgoode Hall in Toronto in 1924 he joined Dominion Securities Corporation, a Canadian investment bank. In 1926 he was promoted to Vice President. Schooled in the world of finance, largely during the Great Depression. He eventually rose to be the firm's President, Chief Executive Officer and finally Vice Chairman.

Under his leadership Dominion Securities grew to be one of Canada's most prominent Investment Banks and was acquired by Royal Bank of Canada. RBC Dominion Securities remains today as Canada's leader in full service investment and wealth management with over 200 billion in assets under management. Throughout his career Harry Bawden held many prominent positions such as Director of the War Finance Committee, active Board member of Molson's Brewery Ltd, Dominion Foundries & Steel, Toronto Western Hospital, Maple Leaf Milling and Dofasco. He maintained an active interest in the corporate and political affairs of the nation until he died in 1976.

Peter Bawden

Focusing on oil & gas exploration, aviation, gold mining and insurance businesses among others, throughout his career Peter Bawden financed and built a number of companies globally.

Born in 1929, Peter Bawden ran Peter Bawden Drilling Ltd., a firm he founded in 1952 and grew to become one of the largest privately owned oil and gas drilling firms worldwide. A true pioneer in the industry, he was the first to discover oil and drill north of the Arctic Circle. In 1960 Bawden acquired Trident Drilling becoming Canada's largest drilling company. The company then expanded abroad with rigs in Australia and later to the Middle East, then worldwide. In 1991 he founded Executive Flight Centre and built it into Canada's largest aviation service company.

He served as a Member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1972 to 1979, including work on Finance, Trade and Economic Affairs, External Affairs and National Defense, and National Resources and Public Works committees. Peter Bawden also served as a delegate to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, on the Canada/US Inter-parliamentary Committee, and as a Director of the Calgary Special Olympics and Trustee of the Canadian Olympic Association. For his service to the country, he was awarded the Order of Canada.

Jen Bawden

Jen Bawden is a best-selling author, philanthropist and serial social entrepreneur passionate about disruptive technologies with a decade of experience in Homeland Security technology solutions. She was one of two co-founders with the U.S. Department of Energy to build a Department of Homeland Security Anti-Terrorism Technology company funded by DNDO to develop and deploy technologies to protect global infrastructure from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attack.

Jen is passionate about macroeconomics and global trends. In early 2007 speeches and in her newsletter, The Contrarian Consensus, Jen was one of the first voices to warn of a coming crash of 1929 proportions and to forecast gold's rise above $1,000. She's a contributing author at Huffington Post and Seeking Alpha. Jen is a frequent speaker and attendee at leading think tanks, family office events and financial conferences including The Aspen Institute, TED, The National Committee on American Foreign Policy, Renaissance Weekend, Summit Series and The Secure the Grid Coalition among others.