BMO recognized for excellence in diversity among senior leaders by Globe and Mail

For the third consecutive year, BMO has earned a place on the 2023 Report on Business, Women Lead Here list, an annual benchmark recognizing Canadian businesses with the highest achievement for executive gender diversity. 

The Globe and Mail benchmark was established in 2020 by Report on Business magazine and applies a proprietary research methodology to determine Canadian corporations with the highest degree of gender diversity among executive ranks. The ranking companies have made tangible and organizational progress related to executive gender parity. 

For the 2023 ranking, Report on Business conducted a journalistic analysis of approximately 500 large publicly traded Canadian companies based on revenue, evaluating the ratio of female-identifying to male-identifying executives in the top three tiers of executive leadership. The resultant data was applied to a weighted formula that also factored in company performance, diversity and year-to-year change.  

“Recognizing businesses that are successfully tackling issues around executive gender parity is a crucial step in moving the dial. While more work is needed across the board, the companies highlighted in this list are examples to others in corporate Canada looking to move toward gender parity and, ultimately, build better businesses.” – Dawn Calleja, editor of Report on Business magazine 

In line with our Purpose to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life, BMO is committed to accelerating initiatives that eliminate economic and societal barriers to achieve meaningful and sustainable progress for women. The bank’s commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in its workforce has yielded important results: 

• 42 per cent of senior leadership roles are held by women; globally, this number has remained above 40 per cent since 2016. 
• Half of the Independent Directors of BMO’s Board of Directors are women. 

“Our work to eliminate barriers to inclusion is part of everyone’s responsibility at BMO – it’s embedded in our culture and our values of diversity and empathy; contributing directly to the strength of our performance. It’s critical that our leadership teams represent the diversity of our workforce and the communities we serve, and our work continues as BMO continues as BMO continues as a leading North American bank.”

– Darryl White
CEO, BMO Financial Group

“This recognition from the Report on Business’ Women Lead Here list is the result of BMO’s decades-long commitment to supporting equity in the workplace. Gender inclusion is a key pillar of BMO’s Zero Barriers to Inclusion 2025 strategy – the guide for our collective effort to create and champion inclusion for all.”

– Mona Malone
Chief Human Resource Officer and Head of People and Culture, BMO

The 2023 Women Lead Here list is in the April 2023 issue of Report on Business magazine, distributed with The Globe and Mail on Saturday March 25, 2023, and on the Globe and Mail website.