Frank Techar is President and Chief Executive Officer of Harris Bankcorp, Inc., a large regional retail, business and wealth bank serving more than one million personal and business customers in and around the Chicago area through its network of 189 branches. Harris Bank is part of Toronto-based BMO Financial Group, one of North America's leading financial services providers.

A native of Minnesota, Techar was appointed to his current position in September 2002. He previously served, since September of 1999, as Executive Vice President, Small Business Banking, a high-priority area in BMO Bank of Montreal's Canadian operations, serving 400,000 small and medium-sized businesses across Canada.

Techar began his career with BMO Financial Group in the Corporate Banking division, and spent 12 years in various positions in Denver and Houston. He went on to gain international leadership experience as Senior Vice President and General Manager of BMO Financial Group's offices in London, England, as the senior company executive in Europe before moving to Canada.

Prior to his career with BMO Financial Group, Techar held a variety of corporate banking positions with First Interstate Bank in Denver, Colorado, and various engineering positions with USG Corporation in Oakfield, New York.

He earned a Bachelor of Science and Engineering degree from Princeton University in 1978 and an MBA from the University of Denver in 1983, and completed the University of Southern California Executive Program in 1992.

Techar is an active member of Chicago's business and civic community. He serves on the Boards of the Executives' Club of Chicago and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Boards of Trustees for Rush University Medical Center, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Field Museum. He serves on the Trustee Committee for The Chicago Community Trust, the Dean's Advisory Board of the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, the Program Committee of the Chicago Public Education Fund, and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. He also is a member of the Chicago Club, the Economic Club of Chicago, and the University Club of Chicago.

F. Techar (high resolution picture, jpg, 2138k)