Joe Canavan, BAdmin 84, is a strategic planner — not only for businesses but also for his own life.
“On a regular basis, I’ll go off for a few days to make one-year, five-year and 10-year plans,” says the Toronto native and financial-services veteran. “So far, I’ve always wound up exceeding my goals.”
Canavan also has an overarching professional mission: to help create prosperity for Canadian families. He first adopted it when he was an undergraduate student at Concordia, having been lured there by the strong reputation of its Faculty of Commerce and Administration, now called the John Molson School of Business.
When Canavan graduated in the 1980s, most Canadian families were investing in very low-risk, low-reward vehicles such as government savings bonds. Although Canavan had studied more sophisticated investment strategies at Concordia, most venues where he could apply them served only high-net-worth clients.
One of the exceptions was Fidelity Investments Canada, which had tried to interest ordinary Canadians in mutual funds. This hadn’t worked out, forcing them to lay off 90 per cent of their staff. In Canavan’s opinion, their approach may have been flawed but their vision was sound.
“I looked around and saw far more Volvos than Ferraris,” he recalls. “There had to be a way to make a viable business out of helping regular people invest more actively.”
Canavan eventually joined Fidelity’s team as its director of National Sales. Over the next five years, he helped the company grow its value from $60 million to $6 billion.
Following this success, Canavan built a career by launching new asset-management companies — including Synergy Assets, now part of CI Financial — and turning around struggling ones.
Along the way, he also served on the boards of numerous charities. Several of them, including the Jays Care Foundation, Trails Youth Initiatives and the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada, aim to equip kids and young adults for flourishing futures.
Stemming from this long-standing interest, Canavan has opinions about post-secondary education and the Government of Quebec’s past decisions about tuition fees for out-of-province and international students.
“If you ask me, it’s short-sighted,” he says. “It will be bad for the quality of education, for diversity and for Quebec’s ability to attract as many ambitious young people.
“If you give a young person an education, you empower them to make a contribution in turn. It’s a hand-up, not a hand-out.”
These days, Canavan is empowering the next generation by investing in Canadian startups, especially financial-technology companies.
His portfolio includes Homewise, Layer 6 and Wealthsimple, which is carrying forward his vision of widening the array of investment options and financial services that are accessible to the middle class.
Besides cash, he also invests his time and expertise in homegrown entrepreneurs.
“Mentoring young people keeps me in the loop, so it’s beneficial for me, too,” Canavan explains.
“The whole path that started at Concordia and brought me to this point has been incredible. My experiences with education, business and philanthropy have enriched each other. It’s been a virtuous cycle of positivity.”