William A. Downe President and Chief Executive Officer, BMO Financial Group William Downe is President and Chief Executive Officer of BMO Financial Group. He was appointed CEO on March 1, 2007. Mr. Downe joined Bank of Montreal in 1983 and held a variety of senior management positions in Denver, Houston, Chicago and Toronto. In 1999, he was appointed Vice-Chair, Bank of Montreal and, in 2001, he was named Deputy Chair of BMO Financial Group and Chief Executive Officer, BMO Nesbitt Burns. In 2006, he was appointed Chief Operating Officer of BMO Financial Group. In 2006, he was appointed to serve on the Federal Reserve Board's Federal Advisory Council (FAC), which is composed of twelve banking industry leaders in the United States named to represent their Federal Reserve Districts. He serves as a member of the International Monetary Conference and its 2008 Program Committee, a member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and a member of the International Business Leaders Advisory Council of the Mayor of Beijing. In the community, Mr. Downe is Chairman of the Board of Directors of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, where he has served as a board member since 2001. He is a director of Catalyst, a leading organization that promotes women's leadership in business, and a member of Catalyst's Canadian Board of Advisors. He is also a past board member of Goodwill Industries of Chicago and is a member of the Chicago Club. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Toronto. He received the Rotman Distinguished Business Alumni Award from the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management in 2003, and an Arbor Award from the University of Toronto in recognition of outstanding personal service to the University in 2005. (November 2007)