Mar. 08, 2023 by CVCA Staff

Toronto, ON – March 8, 2023 – The Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) is pleased to announce the winners of the inaugural Canadian Women in Private Capital Awards, which celebrates exceptional women who have shown a dedication to professional excellence in the Canadian private capital industry.

The Canadian Women in Private Capital Awards are separate from CVCA’s general awards program and aim to identify, recognize, and celebrate the achievements and contributions of exemplary women in the industry. Winners will be recognized during a sold-out morning reception event, sponsored by CIBC Innovation Banking, in celebration of International Women’s Day.

CVCA’s Woman of Achievement Award recognizes outstanding Canadian GPs and their dedication to elevating the performance and leadership of women in the Canadian private capital industry. The winners of the Woman of Achievement Award have shown dedication to raising the bar for performance by women in the industry, have had a significant impact on innovation and value creation and have contributed meaningfully to improving gender diversity in the industry and beyond.

The 2023 winners of the CVCA’s Woman of Achievement Award are Whitney Rockley from McRock Capital, who won the award for venture capital (VC), and Lisa Melchior from Vertu Capital, who won the award for private equity (PE).

Whitney Rockley is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at McRock Capital. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Rockley has been instrumental in building McRock Capital into a leading investor in the digital industrial sector. She is also passionate about supporting women in entrepreneurship and as the first woman to serve as Chair of CVCA since its inception in 1974, she spearheaded the establishment of the inaugural taskforce on diversity and inclusion. This initiative was instrumental in creating CVCA’s Diversity and Inclusion committee that she skillfully led for many years. With a fervent conviction that diverse teams deliver superior performance, she is a powerful advocate for these initiatives within the technology and private capital communities.

Rockley has achieved several notable accomplishments in recent years. Rockley was instrumental in raising two oversubscribed funds for a total of CAD $200M. McRock has also made successful investments, with one of its portfolio companies, ThoughtTrace Inc., being acquired by Thomson Reuters in Q1 2022. Additionally, mnubo was successfully acquired by AspenTech in 2019 and Decisive Farming was acquired by Telus later that same year. Rockley was the Chair of the Board of Directors of Decisive Farming and a member of mnubo’s Board of Directors.

Lisa Melchior is a trailblazing Founder and Managing Partner at Vertu Capital, where she is the first woman in Canada to start a private equity fund. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Melchior has invested more than $1.5 billion in 25 technology companies over the course of her career, becoming a well-respected figure in the private capital ecosystem. She is also a staunch advocate for promoting diversity in the industry, having built a highly diverse team, and having mentored many women in private equity over the past two decades.

Melchior has achieved several notable accomplishments in recent years. In 2021, Melchior and her team launched Vertu Partners Fund I, targeting growth to lower mid-market technology companies, a previously underserved market in Canada. Under Melchior’s leadership Vertu has grown quickly, having led several successful investments, with one of its portfolio companies, Firmex Inc, sold to strategic buyer Datasite in Q3 2021.

Read the full announcement here.