mark grimes

A 20-year veteran on Toronto City Council, Mark Grimes was often considered Toronto's sports Councillor — championing several projects aimed at boosting the profile of sports in the city, and serving on many sports related boards — including the Hockey Hall of Fame Board of Directors and the FIFA World Cup United Bid Task Force.

Prior to politics, Grimes was a trader on the floor of the Toronto Stock Exchange for a major financial firm, later becoming President & CEO of MGA International Logistics, a leading transportation logistics company he owns with his brothers. Combining his business and political experience has been an asset in major projects including his work to bring several Grey Cup games, the FIFA Under 20 World Cup, inaugural NCAA International Bowl, and the NBA All-Star game to the City of Toronto.

Grimes has an outstanding track record and a passion for ensuring Toronto is a destination for the international sports community. He brought the concept of BMO Field to Exhibition Place and led the charge to have it built on budget and on time for the FIFA Under 20 World Cup in 2007. As Chair of the Exhibition Place Board of Governors, Grimes worked closely with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) to open the Toronto Raptors new practice facility, OVO Athletic Centre in 2016. He was appointed chair of Toronto's 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games Secretariat, the largest multi-sport event ever held in Canada. In 2014, he moved the motion that kick-started the process to bring the FIFA World Cup to North America—and recently worked with international partners in the United States and Mexico, the Canadian Soccer Association, and Toronto FC to put together the United 2026 winning bid. The PGA of America honoured Grimes in 2013 for his efforts towards making the PGA Championship at Oak Hill a huge success.

Highly regarded for his commitment to community sports and a range of charitable causes, Grimes has coached lacrosse, hockey, and baseball, and served on many community boards. He served on the Mimico Jr. B Mountaineers executive as the Director of Marketing in the mid 90s and was an integral part of the 1997 Founders Cup Host Committee, planning the celebrity dinner, and eventually the 1998 OLA Celebrity Game.

Grimes and his wife Anne raised five children in Mimico. They spent over 28 summers like most lacrosse families, traveling across Ontario to watch their children play lacrosse, and look forward to doing it again with their grandchildren, JD and Brodie.

Grimes was appointed Commissioner of the Ontario Junior Lacrosse League in April 2021.