Born and raised in Montreal, Mitch Garber began his professional career as a lawyer but moved on to a diverse and storied career in business, ultimately becoming one of the most influential powerbrokers in the gaming, entertainment and hotel industries.
Garber’s first major position was as CEO of PartyGaming, one of the world’s largest online gaming companies at the time, and then, in 2009, as head of Caesars Interactive Entertainment, the newly formed digital gaming and entertainment division of Caesars Entertainment, and since 2013 CEO of Caesars Acquisition Company, owner of the World Series of Poker and six hotels and casinos in Las Vegas , New Orleans and Baltimore.
Mitch is well-known in Quebec for his cross-cultural role on Dans l’oeil du dragon, the French-Canadian equivalent of CBC’s Dragon’s Den, as its first ever Anglophone judge. In 2015, he participated in the TPG led buyout of Cirque du Soleil and became its Chairman.
Speaking to reporter Sandie Renaldo, as part of a feature story on the TV newsmagazine W5, he expressed pride in calling Montreal home, despite living in many other cities around the world: “I wanted my kids to have the same Canadian feeling, the same Quebec upbringing and education that I had and my wife [Anne-Marie Boucher] had.” He is known to be a staunch advocate for bilingualism, urging fellow Anglophone Quebecers to avoid cultural insularity.
Committed to giving back philanthropically, he recently co-chaired Montreal’s annual Centraide campaign, serves on the Board of the One Drop Foundation, and established The Garber Family Post Doctorate Fellowship in Hereditary Cancer at McGill’s Faculty of Medicine, in addition to raising funds for Cystic Fibrosis research with Celine Dion and the late René Angelil, and several other charitable involvements.
