William Arthur Downe (born 1952) is a Canadian banker who was chief executive officer of

Bank of Montreal The Bank of Montreal (, ), abbreviated as BMO (pronounced ), is a Canadian multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company. The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank, making it Canada ...

(also known as BMO Financial Group) from March 1, 2007, to October 31, 2017.

Career

Downe joined Bank of Montreal in 1983 and held a variety of senior management positions in Canada and the U.S. In 1999, he was appointed vice-chair, Bank of Montreal. From 2001 to 2006, he was deputy chair of BMO Financial Group, and CEO of BMO Capital Markets. In February 2006, Downe was named

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

and was chosen to replace Tony Comper as president and chief executive officer of BMO effective March 1, 2007, the day of BMO's annual general meeting. In December 2016, Downe was named a

Member of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. In April 2017, it was announced that Downe would retire as CEO effective on October 31, 2017. He was to be succeeded by current COO Darryl White, who had previously served as Group Head of BMO Capital Markets.

Professional associations

Downe is the only Canadian member of the International Business Leaders Advisory Council of the Mayor of

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, and he is a member of the International Advisory Council of Guanghua School of Management at

Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

. He is a director of Catalyst, and a member of Catalyst's Canadian Board of Advisors. Downe is also a member of the Economic Club of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and Past President of the

Federal Reserve Board The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, commonly known as the Federal Reserve Board, is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement the mo ...

's Federal Advisory Council.

Charity work

Downe served as Chairman of the 2009 Campaign Cabinet for United Way of Greater

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. He is a member of the

Rotman School of Management The Joseph L. Rotman School of Management (commonly known as the Rotman School of Management, the Rotman School or just Rotman) is a graduate business school at the University of Toronto, located at the St. George campus in Downtown Toronto. Th ...

Campaign Cabinet, and he sits on the board of Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital Foundation. He is also past Chair of the Board of Directors of St. Michael's Hospital.

Education

Downe has a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from

Wilfrid Laurier University Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a Public university, public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Ontario, Waterloo, Brantford, Ontario, Brantford and Milton, Ontario, Milton. The ...

. While obtaining a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, he joined the

Alpha Delta Phi Alpha Delta Phi (; commonly known as Alpha Delt, AD, ADPhi, A-Delt, or ADP) is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. Alpha Delta Phi was originally founded as a literary society by Samuel Eells in 1832 at Hamilton College in ...

fraternity. In 2003, he received the Rotman Distinguished Business Alumni Award from the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management.

References

External links

Biography of William Downe at BMO corporate siteOrder of Canada citation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Downe, Bill 1952 births Living people Bank of Montreal presidents Businesspeople from Ontario University of Toronto alumni Wilfrid Laurier University alumni Directors of Bank of Montreal Businesspeople from Montreal Canadian chief executives Canadian chief operating officers Members of the Order of Canada