John Kiru

Personal Information

John Kiru has over 40 years of experience specializing in local business improvement and planning for municipalities.

For the past 23 years, John has managed as its ED and CEO the day-to-day operation of the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA). TABIA is an umbrella organization representing Toronto’s 85 Business Improvement Areas (BIAs), with more than 90,000 main street retailers, professionals, landowners, and occupants who employ some 600,000 full and part time employees. BIA’s are a reflection of Toronto’s extensive diversity and play a key role in community building in the city of Neighbourhoods.

His years of experience with BIAs and Local small business provided an understanding of their needs and wants which resulted in John being the founder of Digital Main Street.

He has also successfully completed many projects since 1985 as the sole proprietor of John J. Kiru and Associates, Planning and Economic Development Consultants. These include by-law and operating guidelines for the municipal council of Richmond Hill for the establishment of the Richmond Hill BIA, first impression reviews of the Oakville BIA as well as for the BIA in the Town of Markham, a panel member for Mayor Bloomberg’s New York city small business review and BID enhancement. He has taken the BIA concept worldwide sharing the benefits of small businesses helping themselves and the ultimate private public partnership in places such as Hamburg Germany where he performed a peer review of the proposed enabling legislation.

Provincially John served as a member of Minister of Labour, Vulnerable Worker Task Group. From 2016 to 2021 Mr. Kiru was elected to the role of President and Chair of the Board of the Canadian National Exhibition Association (CNEA) a 147-year-old institution that annually operates an 18 day fair drawing 1.6 million people.