Ellen Costello is Chief Executive Officer of BMO Financial Corp. (formerly Harris Financial Corp.) and U.S. Country Head of Toronto-based BMO Financial Group, one of North America's leading financial services providers.

Ms. Costello is responsible for providing governance and regulatory oversight for all of BMO’s U.S. businesses. This includes ensuring all U.S. activities of the bank are consistent with the values, principles and the strategic initiatives set by BMO and approved by the BMO board. She is a member of the BMO management and performance committees.

After joining BMO Financial Group in 1983, Ms. Costello held progressively senior positions in Corporate Banking and Treasury, serving in leadership positions in Derivatives, as Regional Treasurer in Asia in 1993 and in 1995 as Senior Vice-President and Deputy Treasurer. In 1997, she was appointed Executive Vice-President, Global Treasury Group, responsible for the foreign exchange, financial products, money markets, loan syndication/trading and managed futures businesses. In 2000, she was named Head of Securitization and Credit Investment Management; in 2003, head of BMO Capital Markets, New York; and in 2006 she assumed responsibility for Merchant Banking. Later in 2006 she was named Group Head for Personal and Commercial Banking U.S. and President and CEO Harris Financial Corp. She was appointed to her current role in July 2011.

Ms. Costello holds a BBA from St. Francis Xavier University and earned her MBA from Dalhousie University. She serves on a number of boards, including the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, After School Matters, the Executives' Club of Chicago and the Financial Services Roundtable. She is a member of the Commercial Club, its Civic Committee, the Chicago Network, the Economic Club of Chicago and the Trustees Committee of The Chicago Community Trust.

(July 2011)