CEO profile: Bill Downe, Bank of Montreal

William A. Downe, also known as Bill Downe is a Canadian bank executive and became president and CEO of Bank of Montreal on March 1st 2007.

Downe joined Bank of Montreal in 1983 and held various positions there over the years including vice-chair, Bank of Montreal, deputy chair of BMO Financial Group, and was named as the next CEO in February 2006.

Bill Downe is the only Canadian member of the International Business Leaders Advisory Council of the Mayor of Beijing and he is a member of the International Advisory Council of Guanghua School of Management at Peking University. He is also a director of Catalyst, and a member of Catalysts Canadian Board of Advisors. Downe is also a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and Past President of the Federal Reserve Board’s Federal Advisory Council.

Bill Downe served as Chairman of the 2009 Campaign Cabinet for United Way of Greater Toronto. He is a member of the Rotman School of Management Campaign Cabinet, and the board of Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation. He is also a past Chair of the Board of Directors of St. Michael’s Hospital.

Downe has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Toronto. In 2003, he received the Rotman Distinguished Business Alumni Award from the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management.