John McCall MacBain

John McCall MacBain

Founder and Vice-Chair

John H. McCall MacBain is a Founder, Director, and the Vice-Chair of the McCall MacBain Scholarships at McGill. He is also the Chair of the McCall MacBain Foundation. Previously, he was the Founder, President, and CEO of Trader Classified Media, the world’s leading company in the classified advertising sector, from its inception in 1987 until its successful sale in 2006.

Originally from Niagara Falls, Ontario, John is a Rhodes Scholar and has received an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MA in Law from Oxford University, and a BA in Economics from McGill University. Additionally, he holds honorary degrees from McGill University, the University of Ottawa, Dalhousie University, and Brock University in Canada, as well as Monash University in Australia.

John is a Trustee of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation in Cape Town, a Trustee Emeritus and Second Century Founder of the Rhodes Trust in Oxford, a Foundation Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, the Founding Chair of the European Climate Foundation, and was on the Principal’s International Advisory Board of McGill University. He served as the 20th Chancellor of McGill University from 2021 to 2024.

For his achievements as a business leader and for his contributions to academic institutions as a philanthropist, he was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2016.
Board of Directors