Mitch Garber C.M., is a Canadian lawyer and former Co-Founder/ CEO of Optimal Payments/Paysafe (Nasdaq), CEO PartyGaming Plc/PartyBwin (LSE) and Caesars Acquisition Company /Playtika Ltd. (Nasdaq). He is the Chairman of Invest in Canada, the Canadian agency responsible for foreign investment in Canada. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 2019.
He is an active investor and co-invests with lead principals, including; Apollo, TPG, David Bonderman/Wildcat, and Fosun, and sits on several boards, including Rackspace Technology (RXT), Shutterfly Inc., Apollo Strategic Growth Capital (APSG), Aiola.com (Israel), and Lanvin Group (France/China).
He is a minority owner and executive committee member of the NHL Seattle Kraken, majority owned by TPG Founder David Bonderman. He also sits on the Board of the One Roof Foundation, the charity arm of the Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena.
He was the non-executive Chairman of Cirque Du Soleil, a TPG/Fosun holding, from 2015-2020.
He has also made several successful investments in Israeli companies and is currently an investor in Israeli-based AI company Aiola, mobile game developer Pokerface, medical company Healthy.io, 3D volumetric company Tetavi, Fintech SPAC Finnovate, and the Mandarin Hotel and Residences development project in Tel Aviv. As CEO of Caesars Interactive Entertainment, he bought Playtika (PLTK), in 2011 for $100m and sold it in 2016 for more than 4.4B , making it one of the largest Israeli exits ever, at the time.
He sits on the board and leads a number of philanthropic activities in Canada and Israel. He co-chaired the 2016 Centraide/United Way campaign in Montreal, raising in excess of $55 million, and co-chaired a two year $100m campaign for Combined Jewish Appeal (2020/21).
He has a BA from McGill University ('86), a law degree from the University of Ottawa ('89) , an honorary doctorate from the University of Ottawa ('17), The McGill/Desautels Business School Achievement award (2017), and The University of Ottawa Order of Merit ('20) .
He is married to Anne-Marie Boucher a tax lawyer, and active philanthropist. Anne-Marie currently sits on a number of non-profit boards including; Alpine Canada, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), St. Mary's Hospital Foundation, The McCord Museum, The Weizmann Institute, Aleh Rehabilitation Hospitals, and the Jewish Community Foundation (JCF). All of their charitable donations are made through the Anne-Marie and Mitch Garber Family Foundation. Anne-Marie also sits on the boards of ultra low cost airline startup Enerjet, and healthcare company Carebook Technologies.
Mitch and Anne-Marie have two adult sons, and the family resides in Montreal, Canada.
Printable Bio
Current Investments