Mauro Chiesa

We mourn the passing of Mauro Chiesa on February 8, 2023. He is pre-deceased by his parents (Daniele and Anna Maria) and uncle (Remo), and survived by his wife (Rose-Marie Déchaine), his siblings George (Linda), Sandra Davies (Derek), and Bob (Joanna), his uncle Leo (Rosanne), his aunt Clara (Remo), as well as numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Gifted with an incisive intellect and a fierce intelligence, Mauro drank deeply from the cup of life. An avid athlete, he excelled in skiing, competitive cycling, tennis, sailing and golf. He was attuned to beauty in all its forms, and his many dinner parties reflected his appreciation of fine food, fine wine, and fine conversation. Alive to the world around him, he had a keen ear for music, and an equally keen eye for art, architecture, and photography. In his professional life, Mauro made his mark in infrastructure financing and natural resource development: his work changed the developing and emerging world in tangible ways that continue to this day.

Born in Pordedone (Friuli, Italy) in 1953, when he was 8 years old Mauro immigrated to Canada with his mother and father, arriving via ship on the Atlantic seaboard in Halifax in February 1961. In the train ride from Halifax to Vancouver on the west coast, Mauro marveled at the endless “rocks and trees” of his new home. The family settled in North Vancouver where his father Daniele operated a landscaping business with his brothers Leo and Remo; Mauro’s exposure to the ins and outs of landscaping fuelled a lifelong passion for architecture. He attended school in Lynn Valley (North Vancouver), completed a BA and an MBA at the University of British Columbia, graduating in 1979. Mauro was comfortable working in diverse cultures and geographies and fluent in Furlan, Italian, English, and French.

To his family, Mauro was a devoted and attentive son, a supportive and inspiring eldest brother, and an engaged and engaging spouse. To his wide circle of friends — scattered across the world — he was loyal and deeply caring. To everyone, he offered wise counsel. He mentored scores of young folk, and advised numerous organizations and clients. He was clear-eyed in a way that few are, with an uncanny ability to apprehend larger patterns and trends long before they were apparent to others. His technical reports and analyses were renowned not only for their insight and precision, but also for their broad sweep, as they went beyond narrowly defined ideological and political concerns. His professional career afforded him the opportunity to live in a variety of locations (Ottawa, Montréal, Chicago, New York, Washington DC) and travel the world extensively. One could track his travel not by cataloging the places where he had been (too numerous to list), but by the small number of places where he had not been, essentially the Antarctic and Bhutan.

Mauro’s career began with Export Development Canada (EDC, Ottawa), where he worked on export financing, with a focus on African projects. This was followed by a stint at Banque Indosuez, where he acquired expertise in project financing, with a specialization in power generation and mining. He then joined Sumitomo Bank, quickly adapting to the Japanese style of banking and risk management, and working on power generation projects and complex turn-arounds in North America. Then onto the International Finance Corporation (IFC, Washington DC), where he was part of a select team of Wall Street bankers that led IFC teams in emerging countries on government-focused advisory missions specialising in public sector P3, joint-venture and privatisation potential. In the latter part of his career he worked as an independent advisor, where his expertise in project financing of large-scale industries attracted clients far and wide. His hands-on expertise was highly valued, as reflected by the numerous invitations he received to be a guest speaker at various research institutions, including the Harvard Business School. Upon his return to Canada, Mauro’s technical prowess attracted invitations from the Canadian Institute of Mining (CIM), for whom he made several keynote addresses.

In lieu of flowers, donations in honour of Mauro can be made to the Red Cross International Programs Fund (https://www.redcross.ca/donate/appeal/donate-to-the-international-programs-fund#5db96eda-5eb5-4cf2-8cd3-ce87c409d2a4).

A celebration of life will be held on Monday 20 February 2023, 12.00-3.00pm (Pacific Time) at Via Tevere Pizzeria, 1190 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, BC, Canada.