Innovation leader injured in cycling crash
Canada’s venture capital and tech communities have been shaken by a cycling accident that left one of its most prominent figures, John Ruffolo, partially paralyzed.
Ruffolo, 54, who founded and led OMERS Ventures for several years and is also a co- founder and vice- chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators, was cycling near Newmarket, Ont., last week when he was involved in an accident with a “jack-knifing transport truck,” he wrote in a in a Linkedin post Monday. He said it is unlikely he will regain the use of his legs despite several surgeries since Wednesday.
Friends and colleagues expressed little doubt that he would remain active in the tech and innovation sectors despite the accident.
“I had the pleasure of working with John for seven years at OMERS and witnessed him blow past obstacles time and time again,” Damien Steel, managing partner and head of ventures at the Ontario pension fund, told the Financial Post.
“I have little doubt in my mind that we will all get to witness that drive and resilience as he works his way back to health,” he said.
In the same Linkin post, Ruffolo said he remains “committed, and as able as always” to the planned launch of his own private equity fund, and to his advocacy work for Canadian innovation, and pledged to return “in full force as soon as humanly possible.”
Steel said Ruffolo, who is married with two “amazing” children, has been a tireless supporter of innovation in Canada since well before his days at OMER S, where he worked from 2011 until the end of 2018.
“Safe to say the tech community has benefited from his tenaciousness over the years,” Steel said.
Similar sentiments about Ruffolo’s past work and prospects have flowed on social media since he revealed the severity of his injuries.
Graeme Moffat, former chief scientist of Meta, a biomedical research tool that was bought by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, said on Twitter that Ruffolo is “one of the most dedicated and positive people” he’s ever worked with.
“His determination to get back to building Canada’s future economy in the face of incredible adversity is a testament to what a remarkable guy he is,” said Moffat, who is also a senior fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
Arlene Dickinson, a Calgary- based venture capitalist who has been featured on CBC’S Dragons’ Den and general partner at District Ventures Capital, which targets the food and health sectors, tweeted that Ruffolo was a champion of the country’s entrepreneurs and “will continue to be an incredible force in Canada.”
Paul Georges Leroux, former research & development and innovation leader at Deloitte, tweeted that Ruffolo was his mentor at the accounting and consulting firm and taught him to be a good partner. He called news of the accident “heartbreaking.”
Ruffolo’s career has not been without adversity. A 2018 article in The Pivot Magazine chronicled how his job and personal finances were jeopardized shortly after he became a partner at Arthur Andersen, the accounting firm that capsized in the wake of the Enron scandal in the early 2000s. While it was touch-and-go for a while, with a lot of money on the line, Ruffolo was able to stay on course when Arthur Andersen Canada merged with rival firm Deloitte.
In the article, which is still featured on the website of Canada’s Chartered Professional Accountants, Ruffolo’s wife, Carryn, pegged that crisis as the moment in his career when Ruffolo began to take bigger risks.
“When you have nothing left to lose, you take greater chances,” she told the magazine at the time. “And when you’re not driven by money, you make sound decisions.”