John Ruffolo

John Ruffolo is a father, son, a first generation Canadian, an avid cyclist, and member of Les Domestiques a philanthropic cycling team. He is an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur.

In the business world, John joined OMERS Pension fund over a decade ago, and founded OMERS Ventures, a private equity fund established to back promising Canadian companies Notably Hootsuite, Wattpad and Shopify. However, the pension fund rules capped the growth potential of those investments.

He decided to leave and start his own private equity firm called Maverix Private Equity (https://www.maverixpe.com/), just as the pandemic hit. He pushed ahead raising the capital in spite of the uncertainty. Surrounding himself with some of the most recognized business leaders and brands in Canada, across numerous verticals through their team and advisory board.

And then, just over a year ago, in September 2020, he was out cycling. It was his weekly 3-hour ride, on a road outside of Toronto. The last thing he remembers was hearing a truck’s airbrakes and then the impact.

He should have died. To the shock of the EMT who was treating him in the field where he landed, his eyes popped open, and he began speaking and tried to get up. The EMT managed to stop him as the trauma to his body might have caused him to bleed out internally.   

The impact shattered his T12 vertebrae, his pelvis was an open book fracture, which left it in 6 pieces, all of his ribs on his right side were shattered. The doctors had to wait 36 hours before they could perform any kind of surgery. The chances of survival were slim in those first few days. But somehow he pulled through.

By some miracle he did not suffer any kind of brain injury. John began rehab and within 2 months of his injury, he began calling his investors from his hospital bed to close their investment in the fund.