Rose M. Patten is Senior Executive Vice-President, Head of Human Resources and Senior Leadership Advisor, BMO Financial Group, reporting to the President and CEO.

Ms. Patten is responsible for BMO's enterprise-wide human resource functions and strategies.  This includes four strategic portfolios: Talent Management and Diversity; Performance Alignment and Compensation; Operational Management and Governance; and the Institute for Learning.

This role allows BMO to more closely align its people strategies with its business strategies. Ms. Patten ensures, as a member of BMO's executive committee, that the vital people component is fully considered in all strategic decision-making and implementation plans.

Ms. Patten has spent her entire career in the four financial services sectors (banking, trust, insurance and investment banking). Her primary focus has been strategy development, organization planning and change brought about by mergers and acquisitions. She has had direct leadership of Human Resources, Strategic Planning and Transformational Change Management functions in Canada, U.S. and Asia Pacific. In her role as Senior Vice-President, Corporate Services, Ms. Patten was responsible for leading major strategic initiatives that affected multiple areas of BMO.

Prior to joining BMO in 1995 she was Executive Vice-President at Nesbitt Burns from 1992-1995. Prior to that, she was Senior Vice-President at ManuLife Financial from 1987-1991 and Vice-President/General Manager at Continental Bank of Canada/Lloyds Bank Canada from 1975-1987.

Ms. Patten is a volunteer Board Trustee, member of the Quality Council, and member of the Governance and Nominating Committee at The Hospital for Sick Children. In 2007, she was among the first women to be inducted into the inaugural Hall of Fame of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

(December 2007)

R. Patten (high resolution picture, 592 KB)