David Cynamon started his first successful venture at the age of 17, renting out bicycle cabs to students during the summer months. By the age of 24, he was the CEO of the TSE-listed HAV-INFO Computers, a real-time online financial stock quotation system for non-professional North American Investors, which he sold in 1994.

In 1995, he acquired controlling interest in a tiny one plant operation called KIK Corporation and turned it into North America’s largest manufacturer of retailer and national brand consumer products in the household, personal care and over the counter drug categories. KIK produced leading national brand products for Fortune 500 companies including: Gillette, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Dial, Colgate, SC Johnson, Pfizer & 3M, as well as retailer brand products for top retailers including: Albertsons, Kroger, Loblaws, Safeway, Target, Wal-Mart, Walgreens and food service leader Sysco.

Under Cynamon’s leadership, sales climbed from $16 million to over $1.3 billion, his workforce grew to over 4,000 employees and expanded from one manufacturing plant to 23 manufacturing facilities, consisting of over 4 million square feet. KIK has been recognized twice as one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies and in 2002, David led the company through one of the years largest and most successful Income Fund public offerings forming KCP Income Fund. In 2001, David was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business and in 2002, he was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Canadian Manufacturing sector. In May 2007, David led the sale of KCP to New York Based Caxton-Iseman for $804 million.

An avid sportsman who has completed 4 triathlons, David is also co-owner of the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts, as well as co-owner of one of Canada’s top banquet facilities, the Liberty Grand.

In his spare time, David enjoys spending time with his wife, Stacey, and their three children, Jesse, Josh, and Geri. David and Stacey are also involved Toronto’s philanthropic community. They have endowed a chair at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children named the “David and Stacey Cynamon Clinical Scholar in Pediatric Neuroscience Endowment Fund”, renovated and named the 10th floor post-natal unit at Mount Sinai Hospital, and made gifts to the UJA and the Edmonton Jewish Foundation. David currently sits on the Board of the Gerry & Nancy Pencer Brain Trust and is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation. The Cynamons have funded innovative educational initiatives, such as the Wernham and West Centre for Learning at Upper Canada College, summer camps for underprivileged children, and arts organizations, including the CNIB camp at Lake Joseph.

The Cynamons have been passionate in their support for Atidim (Hebrew for “futures”), an organization that supports high-potential adolescents, army conscripts, and young adults from underprivileged communities, living mostly in the outlying areas of mainstream Israel. Recently, continuing their drive to embolden Israeli youth, they opened a recreation centre in the northern part of Israel, the Cynamon Youth Centre at Shimshit. David and Stacey have also improved the lives of children in Israel through the creation and renovation of three inner city schools and a park. A few years ago, they helped to raise significant funds for the emergency department at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center through a fundraising dinner they hosted in their home. In November 2007, David was honoured by the B’nai Brith Foundation for an Award of Merit.