Jon Love, founder and chief executive officer of KingSett Capital, has been appointed to the Order of Canada. Governor General Julie Payette announced the honour just prior to Canada Day with the accompanying citation: “For his contributions to the Canadian economy as a business leader and for his generosity to numerous health care and educational institutions.”

The Order of Canada recognizes outstanding achievement, dedication and service to the community and the nation, and is bestowed to recipients who exemplify its motto, Desiderantes Meliorem Patriam — translating to: They desire a better country. Love is one of 82 new members Canada-wide, who will receive the Order’s distinctive insignia at a ceremony later this year.

He has played a notable role in Canada’s commercial real estate sector, serving as president and chief executive officer of Oxford Properties before founding the private equity real estate investment firm, KingSett Capital, in 2002. Today, the company has $11.1 billion in assets under management and provides multidisciplinary expertise in real estate acquisition, ownership, development, leasing, management, financing, construction, disposition and lending.

“Canada is a phenomenal investment platform. We are blessed with a very sophisticated industry,” Love told attendees at last year’s BOMEX, the national conference of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Canada, where he was part of a senior executives’ panel discussion.

He also participates in the wider professional community as a board member of the Chief Executives Organization, and member of YPO and the Business Council of Canada. He holds an Honours degree in Business Administration from Western University’s Ivey School of Business and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Western University in 2016.

“Building a high-performance team and a high-performance culture is a core focus of my career,” Love reiterated at BOMEX 2017. “Every CEO, and any manager who’s any good, is interested in what people are saying and thinking.”

“Jon Love is an icon of the Canadian real estate industry. He was the first to do so many things or be the best at it,” observes Michael Brooks, chief executive officer of REALPAC, the association representing most of Canada’s major real estate companies and institutional investors. “Probably less well known is his philanthropic work, through the Jon and Nancy Love Foundation, and his work with Junior Achievement to name a few. Jon is a principled guy, a world class real estate investor and a proud Canadian — a very worthy Order of Canada recipient.”