William Downe was appointed a Deputy Chair of BMO Financial Group and Chief Executive Officer, BMO Nesbitt Burns effective May 1, 2001.

Overseeing both the Investment Banking Group and the Private Client Group, he has responsibility for all of the businesses in BMO Financial Group in Canada and the U.S. directed at corporate and institutional and at individual investing clients.

As of September 2002, Mr. Downe also assumed responsibility for all U.S. operations, including Harris Bank, BMO's Chicago-based retail banking division.

After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree from Waterloo Lutheran University, Mr. Downe graduated with a Master of Business Administration from the University of Toronto in 1978.  In 2003, he received the Rotman Distinguished Business Alumni Award from the University of Toronto's Joseph L. Rotman School of Management.

Mr. Downe joined Bank of Montreal in 1983 as a credit analyst and then held a variety of senior management positions in Corporate and Government Banking in Houston and Denver. In 1992, Mr. Downe was named Senior Vice-President, U.S. Corporate Banking.  In 1996 he was appointed Executive Vice-President, North American Corporate Banking and in 1998 took onresponsibility for Global Fixed Income and Global Treasury.  In 1999 he was appointed Vice-Chair Bank of Montreal.

Mr. Downe is a member of the Board of Directors of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, where he served as Chair of the Audit Committee and is currently active on the Business Services and Audit Committees.  He is also a past board member of Goodwill Industries of Chicago, where he was instrumental in its re-capitalization.  He enjoys opera and the arts, and was the Honorary Chair of the 2003 Canadian Opera Company Volunteer Committee Ball.  He has been active in coaching youth hockey and baseball and enjoys spending time with his three grown sons.

(May 2004)

W. Downe (high resolution picture, jpg, 2006k)