John Ruffolo
John is the Founder and Managing Partner of Maverix Private Equity, a private equity firm focused on technology-enabled growth and disruption investment strategies. As a firm run by entrepreneurs, funded by entrepreneurs, and for entrepreneurs, Maverix invests in health and wellness, financial services, transportation and logistics, live, work, play and learn, and retail. John chairs the Investment Committee, guides the strategy of the firm, is deeply involved with fundraising and sourcing and leading investment opportunities, particularly within the technology industry. He led Maverix’s first investment in Viral Nation and sits on their board.
John is also the Founder of OMERS Ventures and Co-Founder and Vice Chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators. Over the course of his leadership as the CEO of OMERS Ventures, they invested over USD$500 million in over 40 disruptive technology companies across North America, including growth investments in Shopify, Xanadu, Wattpad, Wave, Hootsuite, Rover, Desire 2 Learn, Hopper, DuckDuckGo, TouchBistro and League. During his tenure at OMERS, John also formed OMERS Platform Investments, and as its Executive Managing Director, he formed OMERS Growth Equity and led investments in Purpose Financial, PointNorth Capital, District Ventures, OneEleven and ArcTern Ventures. John co-founded the Council of Canadian Innovators with Jim Balsillie, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping high-growth Canadian technology firms scale globally.
Before joining OMERS, in addition to being a Partner at Deloitte, John was their Global Thought Leader, Global Tax Leader, and Canadian Industry Leader for their Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) practice, and a member of the Board of Directors. Prior to Deloitte, John was a Partner at Arthur Andersen LLP.
As an active board member in the profit and not-for-profit sectors, John works with many leading innovative organizations including AI Partnerships Corp., NervGen Pharma, engineering.com, OneEleven, CIBC Foundation, Rick Hansen Foundation, Caldwell’s Top 40 Under 40, Investigative Journalism Foundation, Dean’s Global Council for the Schulich School of Business, and the Federal Government Global Hypergrowth Project.
Throughout his career, John continues to be recognized for his unparalleled contributions to the growth of the technology sector and expansive vision of Canada’s economy. For instance, in 2014, John was recognized as Canada’s #1 of 100 Most Powerful Business People by Canadian Business Magazine (#3 in 2015) and was selected as one of Toronto’s 50 Most Influential People by Toronto Life (#16 in 2015, #40 in 2016, #26 in 2017). In 2018, John was honoured with the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, making him a fifth Class Knight. In 2020, John became a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (FCPA). In 2022, John was awarded the Ontario Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award.
