McCain Speaker Series: John Alexander, NBIF

​John will talk about his journey as a CPA: his background in private practice, the cannabis industry and will take a look into NBIF’s $37 million portfolio of 75 NB startups!

​John Alexander, CPA, CA, ICD.D was born and raised in Fredericton, New Brunswick and completed his undergrad at Mount Allison University with a Commerce degree in 2011.  John was hired out of university by PricewaterhouseCoopers to pursue his Chartered Accountancy designation and completed his articling term with Allen, Paquet and Arseneau.  John was awarded the CICA Gold Medal for the top mark on the Uniform Evaluation in Eastern Canada in 2013.

​John's experience auditing First Nations provided him with the opportunity to join the Listuguj Mi’gmaq Government as their Director of Finance.  During his tenure with Listuguj, John was appointed to the Aboriginal Financial Officer Association (AFOA) – Atlantic Region as a Director. AFOA is a not for profit dedicated to building financial capacity in First Nation communities. John was asked to join the Charlo Regional Airport Authority (CRAA) as Director in 2018 where he contributes to the financial planning, funding applications and audit preparation of the CRAA.

​Over the next 5 years, John worked in the newly created and highly regulated legal cannabis industry.  John's worked in production saw him help grow the team from 12 to over 400 employees in over 2 years while his time spent on the retail side saw him open 8 stores across Newfoundland in a 15 month period.    

​John's heart  remained in Fredericton and in 2022, he joined NBIF as their Director of Finance.  This role has provided John the opportunity to help companies propel their innovative ideas onto the global stage through strategic investments.  

​John taught Financial Statement Analysis at the University of New Brunswick in 2024 and will be teaching Intro Accounting with Cape Breton University in the Fall.