John Phillips

Education

John Phillips received a Bachelor of Arts and Science from Trinity College at the University of Toronto and later pursued an L.L.B./J.D. from the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto.

Career

John Phillips is known for his career in the legal profession working in private practice at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP for 20 years and as general counsel at Clearnet Communications Inc. for nearly six years. Since 1993, John Phillips has worked with Klister Credit Corp., an investment and consulting company, and is currently its Chief Executive Officer. The former corporate lawyer and wireless company executive gained more than $1 billion in 2019, after making early investments in Shopify investing $250,000 at a $3 million valuation. He bought more shares subsequently, building a position of about 5 million shares. As of 2019, shares surged 175%. At Shopify’s year-end close of C$516, the holdings are valued at more than $2 billion. John Phillips remains a director of Shopify, holding multi-voting shares. He has also invested in fintech FundThrough. Remarkably, John Phillips has kept the bulk of his position, still holding 4 million shares as of 2019.

Net Worth

John Phillips is an angel investor who made an early bet on Shopify, a Canadian e-commerce software company #1444 John Phillips
$1.3B

Achievement

John and his wife Catherine are among Shopify’s largest shareholders, as each of them owns about 1.5% of Shopify. Since 2010, Phillips has served on Shopify’s board of directors. He has invested in a slew of other early-stage companies, like Virtual Marine Technology and Sequence Bio. Phillips previously spent 25 years as a corporate lawyer, including as general counsel at telecom firm Clearnet Communications. Currently, John Phillips serves on the board of directors of numerous privately held companies and has gained experience serving on the board of directors of Redknee Solutions Inc., a public company.