L. Jacques Ménard is Chairman of BMO Nesbitt Burns, one of the country’s leading investment firms. He is also President of BMO Financial Group, Quebec. As such, he oversees the activities of BMO Bank of Montreal and its subsidiaries, and its more than 170 branches and 5,000 employees in Quebec.
Mr. Ménard is currently a director at the Montreal Heart Institute, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Alouettes, and a director at Claridge Inc. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Corporate Directors (Quebec chapter) and a board associate of Canadian Policy Research Networks Inc., and sits on the International Advisory Board of HEC Montréal, the Advisory Board of Glendon College at York University and the Board of Directors of the Macdonald Stewart Foundation.
Mr. Ménard chaired the Task Force on the Sustainability of the Québec Health Care and Social Services System, established by the Quebec Government in December 2004 to identify the funding needs for health and social services in Quebec in the coming years and decades and to propose appropriate measures.
He published his first book in 2008, Si on s’y mettait… that outlines a series of proposals to ensure Quebec’s future growth. In the wake of this book, he established the Groupe d’action sur la persévérance et la réussite scolaires, comprised of 28 representatives from various fields, all of whom are mobilized by the pressing need for action on the issue of student retention in Quebec. The Groupe’s action plan was released in March 2009.
Mr. Ménard is one of the four recipients of the annual Public Policy Forum Testimonial Awards in 2009.
Mr. Ménard is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario (MBA 1970), Loyola College of Montréal (B.Comm. hon. econ. 1967) and College Ste-Marie (BA 1966).
He is an Officer of the Order of Canada.
(July 2009)
