Paul Desmarais

Active Investor

Chairman

Montréal, Quebec

Paul Desmarais, Chairman is an active investor based in Montréal, Quebec. This profile covers what Paul Desmarais backs, at which stage, and how founders can reach out in 2026.

Mr. Paul Desmarais serves as Chairman at Power Financial. He serves as Chairman at Power Financial, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at Portage, and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors at Groupe Bruxelles Lambert. He also serves as Senior Vice President at Power Corporation of Canada. He serves as a Board Member and Member of the Investment Committee at The Canada Life Assurance Company. He serves as a Board Member at Wealthsimple, KOHO, Athena Club, AppDirect, SGS, and IGM Financial (where he also serves on the Governance and Nominating Committee). In addition, he sits on the Board of The Business Council of Canada and is a trustee of the Desmarais Family Residuary Trust. He serves as a director of numerous Power Group companies in North America, including Great-West Lifeco, Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company, Canada Life, Putnam Investments, Investors Group Inc., and Mackenzie Inc. He also continues to serve on philanthropic advisory councils. Earlier in his career, he held multiple leadership roles within Power Corporation, including Vice-President, President & COO, Executive Vice-Chairman, and Executive Chairman, before becoming Executive Co-Chairman in 2008. He was also Vice-Chairman of Power from 1991 to 1996. He served as Co-Chief Executive Officer of Pargesa Holding beginning in 2003 and became Chairman of its Board in 2013. He has also served as a director of Total SA, LafargeHolcim Ltd, Imerys, and GDF Suez. He was a Board Member at Personal Capital (an Empower Company) and at Next. Mr. Desmarais has been recognized with numerous honors, including being named an Officer of the Order of Canada (2005), an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec (2009), and Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in France (2012). He has also received multiple honorary doctorates. He earned a B.A. in Economics from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from INSEAD.

Investor type: Angel
Stages: Early Stage VentureSeed
Location: Montréal, Quebec
Typical check: $375K
Past investments: 2

Notable investments

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