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Not to be confused with Bill Down, Bill Downie, or Bill Downey.

William Arthur Downe CM (born 1952) is a Canadian banker who was chief executive officer (CEO) of Bank of Montreal (also known as BMO Financial Group) from 2007 to 2017.[1][2]

Early life

Downe earned a bachelor’s degree from Wilfrid Laurier University.[citation needed] While obtaining a Master of Business Administration from the University of Toronto, he joined the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.[3]

In 2003, he received the Rotman Distinguished Business Alumni Award from the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management[4] at the University of Toronto.

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 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.[5][6][7][8]

In December 2016, Downe was named a Member of the Order of Canada.[9]

In April 2017, it was announced that Downe would retire as CEO effective October 2017. He was to be succeeded by current COO Darryl White, who had previously was group head of BMO Capital Markets.[10]

Professional associations

Downe is the only Canadian member of the International Business Leaders Advisory Council of the Mayor of Beijing,[11] and a member of the International Advisory Council of Guanghua School of Management at Peking University.[citation needed] He is a director of Catalyst, and a member of Catalyst’s Canadian board of advisors.[12]

Charity work

He is past chair of St. Michael’s Hospital.[13]

References

  1. ^ “Executive Profile – William A. Downe”. Businessweek. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  2. ^ “The Big Five banks’ CEO cycle is complete. Here’s how they performed”. Canadian Business.
  3. ^ Catalogue of the Alpha Delta Phi: 1832-2002. New York, NY: The Executive Council of The Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity. 2002. p. 319.
  4. ^ “Speaker Profile William Downe”. The Economic Club of Canada. Archived from the original on December 20, 2012. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  5. ^ “Tony Comper to Retire as President and CEO of BMO Financial Group; Board Appoints Bill Downe as His Successor”. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007.
  6. ^ “BMO’s Tony Comper to retire in March”. November 28, 2006. Archived from the original on January 17, 2010.
  7. ^ “Storytelling experiment PenTales comes to Toronto | National Post”. March 30, 2010.
  8. ^ “The Globe and Mail: BMO boss launches charity blitz”. The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on January 22, 2011.
  9. ^ “Order of Canada’s newest appointees include Paralympian, Supreme Court judge and astrophysicist”. CBC News, December 30, 2016.
  10. ^ “Bank of Montreal CEO Bill Downe to retire in October, COO Darryl White to take the helm | Financial Post”. April 7, 2017.
  11. ^ Brearton, Steve (December 15, 2016). “The Power List: Canada’s Most Powerful Business People 2017”. Archived from the original on November 4, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  12. ^ “Catalyst women’s organization defends choosing a man to head advisory board, again | CBC Radio”. CBC. September 15, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  13. ^ “William Downe at a glance”. Forbes. Archived from the original on December 30, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2013.