OMERS Ventures Announces Hiring of Howard Gwin as Managing Director

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov. 9, 2011) - OMERS Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of the OMERS pension plan, today announced that Howard Gwin is joining its team as Managing Director.

In this role Mr. Gwin will be responsible for helping OMERS Ventures identify and partner with high-growth companies it can finance from the early stages right through to sale or initial public offering. With his deep experience as a technology company operator, Mr. Gwin will help lead OMERS Ventures' investment activities in the North American technology, media and telecommunications sectors.

"Adding Howard to our team is a very big deal for OMERS Ventures. He is one of the best known and respected tech guys in Canada, and a hugely successful operator of many companies," said John Ruffolo, CEO of OMERS Ventures. "His knowledge and experience will be an enormous asset to OMERS Ventures as we seek out investment partnerships that will generate strong returns for the members of the OMERS pension plan."

With experience in every major software industry segment, Mr. Gwin has helped more than 25 public and private companies to build, scale and drive successful outcomes.

In addition to an MD role at a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, Howard has also served as President at Solect Technology Group, which was sold to Amdocs Inc. for US$1.2 billion, EVP Worldwide Operations at Peoplesoft Inc., and in progressively senior roles at IBM and Xerox.

Mr. Gwin holds a Bachelor of Administration Degree from British Columbia's Simon Fraser University.

About OMERS Ventures

OMERS Ventures is the venture capital investment arm of OMERS, one of Canada's largest pension funds with over $53 billion in net assets. It is an initiative of OMERS Strategic Investments (OSI), an investment entity with a mandate to build long-term strategic relationships with like-minded partners. As both an institutional angel investor and a later-stage investor, OMERS Ventures is looking for successful companies with significant growth potential and market opportunities. We are seeking like-minded partners with a shared vision of building a vibrant and successful knowledge economy. For more information please visit www.omersventures.com.

About OMERS

OMERS is one of Canada's largest pension funds with over $53 billion in net assets. It provides first-class pension administration and innovative products and services to over 400,000 members. Approximately one in every 20 employees working in the province of Ontario is an OMERS member. Through the OMERS Worldwide brand, our team of investment professionals uses a direct drive, active management investment strategy to invest in public and private market assets, including publicly-traded equities, fixed-income, infrastructure, private equity and real estate. For more information, please visit www.omers.com, or www.omersworldwide.com.