John Bankes has served as a dedicated volunteer and consummate supporter of York for the past quarter-century.
He was first appointed to the Board of Governors as a student member in 1974 and has served continuously since 1985. He is the longest serving member of the acting Board of Governors. Bankes has also served as an executive member of the York University Alumni Association for over 15 years.
In 1995, he served as co-Chair of the national campaign for York and has personally funded a prestigious Governors' Award of Distinction scholarship, in addition to several other bursaries, awards and fundraising initiatives. He is a sessional lecturer at Osgoode Hall Law School and teaches an advanced corporate law seminar to students in their final year of York's joint LLB/MBA Program.
Bankes is the managing director of Artemis Management Group Incorporated and Chair of the Board of Minacs Worldwide. He has a proven international track record for structuring and marketing sophisticated corporate and government financing platforms and is highly respected in the field of mergers and acquisitions.