
Board of Directors
Good governance starts with our board of directors. We get the board composition and structure right by having well-informed people with diverse backgrounds, relevant experience, and independence from management. We gain from their expertise. Directors sit on committees that specialize in key areas: audit and conduct review, governance and nominating, human resources, and risk review.
George A. Cope
Toronto, Ontario - Chair of the Board
Director since:
2006
Committee Membership:
Governance and Nominating Committee; Human Resources Committee
George Cope is Chair of the Board of Bank of Montreal, having been appointed to this position effective March 31, 2020. Mr. Cope has served in public-company chief executive roles in the Canadian communications industry for more than 25 years, earning a reputation as an innovative operational and financial strategist, builder of next-generation broadband networks and leader of high-performance teams. Mr. Cope served as President and Chief Executive Officer for BCE Inc. and Bell Canada, the country's largest communications company, from 2008-2020. Mr. Cope retired from Bell on January 5, 2020. Mr. Cope was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2014, inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 2018 and recognized as: Report on Business CEO of the Year, Corporate Citizen Award (2019), one of Harvard Business Review's top 100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World (2019); Canada's Outstanding CEO of the Year (2015); Ivey Business Leader of the Year (2013); Marketer of the Year (1997); and one of Canada's first Top 40 Under 40 (1996). A graduate of the Ivey School of Business at Western University (HBA '84) and a member of the school's advisory board, Mr. Cope has also been awarded honorary doctorates by Western, the University of Windsor, Trent University and Queen's University. He served as Chair of United Way Toronto in 2013, and received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for Bell Let's Talk in 2012 and the Richard Ivey School Distinguished Service Award in 2009. Mr. Cope serves on the boards of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, Brain Canada and CGI.
Public Board Membership During the Last Five Years
CGI
Bell Canada
BCE Inc.
January 2020 - Present
2008 – 2020
2008 – 2020
Darryl White
Toronto, Ontario - Chief Executive Officer, BMO Financial Group
Director since:
2017
Committee membership:
Mr. White attends Committee meetings, in full or in part as appropriate, at the request of the Committees, but is not a member of any such Committee.
Darryl White was appointed Chief Executive Officer of BMO in 2017. He serves as a director of BMO Financial Group as well as its U.S. subsidiary, BMO Financial Corp. He is a member of the Ottawa-based Business Council of Canada, the Washington, D.C.-based The Business Council, and the Mayor of Beijing’s International Business Leaders Advisory Council. Darryl also serves as a director of The Bank Policy Institute (BPI), a nonpartisan public policy, research and advocacy group, representing leading banks in the U.S. Darryl is Vice-Chair of the Catalyst Canada Advisory Board and has volunteered with the Advisory Council of Women in Capital Markets. Mr. White has strong ties to United Way Centraide. In 2018, he became Co-Chair of the Inclusive Local Economic Opportunity Roundtable, a partnership between BMO and United Way Greater Toronto that brings together business and community leaders to develop approaches to reduce economic disparity in the region. Mr. White serves as a director of Unity Health Toronto, which includes St. Michael's Hospital, St. Joseph’s Health Centre and Providence Healthcare, and serves as Campaign Cabinet Co-President for the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation. He is also a director of both the National Hockey League’s Montreal Canadiens, and Alpine Canada, the governing body for alpine, para-alpine and ski cross racing in Canada. Mr. White is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario's Richard Ivey School of Business and has completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.
Jan Babiak
Nashville, Tennessee
Director since:
2012
Committee membership:
Audit and Conduct Review Committee (Chair); Governance and Nominating Committee
Jan Babiak, a Corporate Director, is a former Managing Partner at Ernst & Young LLP (EY), an accounting firm. From 1982 until the end of 2009, and based in the United Kingdom from 1990 onwards, she held a number of roles including global assurance and advisory P&L leadership roles in Technology Security and Risk Services and Regulatory and Public Policy; and she founded and led their global Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice. She also served on EY’s management board for Northern Europe, Middle East, India and Africa. Her current listed company portfolio includes serving on the board of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. where she chairs the Audit Committee and serves on the Finance Committee. She joined the board of Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC beginning December 1, 2017 and serves on its Nominations Committee, Remuneration Committee and as its Senior Independent Director. She recently completed her final term having served nine years as a Council member for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales but continues to serve on select working groups. She received a B.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Oklahoma and an M.B.A from Baldwin Wallace University and holds international information systems security and control, as well as US and UK accounting qualifications.
Public Board Membership During the Last Five Years
Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC
Walgreens
Experian plc
2017 – Present
2012 – Present
2014 – 2016
Sophie Brochu
Bromont, Quebec
Director since:
2011
Committee Membership:
Audit and Conduct Review Committee; Governance and Nominating Committee
Sophie Brochu is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hydro-Quebec and has been active in the energy industry for more than 30 years. A graduate in economics from Université Laval, she began her career in 1987 at SOQUIP, a Quebec Crown Corporation. In 1997, she joined Énergir as Vice President, Business Development. In 2007, after holding various positions in the company, she became President and Chief Executive Officer, a position she held until December 2019. Ms. Brochu sits on the Board of Directors of Hydro-Quebec. Involved with Centraide of Greater Montreal, Ms. Brochu is the Chair of Fondation Forces Avenir which promotes students’ involvement in their communities. She is cofounder of “ruelle de l’avenir”, a project aimed at encouraging students in the Centre-Sud and Hochelaga neighbourhoods of Montréal to remain in school. Ms. Brochu is a member of the Order of Canada.
Public Board Membership During the Last Five Years
Hydro-Quebec
Bell Canada
BCE Inc.
CGI
April 2020 - Present
2010 – May 2020
2010 – May 2020
2019 – April 2020
Craig Broderick
Greenwich, Connecticut
Director since:
2018
Committee Membership:
Governance and Nominating Committee; Risk Review Committee (Chair)
Craig Broderick is a Corporate Director. He is a Senior Director of Goldman, Sachs & Co., from which he retired as an active employee in January 2018. He was until then, the firm’s Chief Risk Officer, a member of its Management Committee, and chair or co-chair of key risk committees. He spent 32 years with Goldman Sachs, primarily in the risk field. He is active with his alma mater including serving for nine years as a Trustee, and was chair of its Investment Committee. He holds a BA from the College of William and Mary.
Christine Edwards
Chicago, Illinois
Director since:
2010
Committee Membership:
Governance and Nominating Committee (Chair); Human Resources Committee; Risk Review Committee
Christine Edwards is a Capital Partner and chairs the Bank Regulatory Practice Group of Winston & Strawn LLP, an International law firm headquartered in the US. Prior to joining Winston & Strawn in 2003, she was Executive Vice-President and Chief Legal Officer at several Fortune 250 Financial Services Companies including Bank One Corporation and Morgan Stanley. In those roles she had responsibility for each company’s law, compliance, regulatory and government relations functions. Ms. Edwards is ranked nationally in the area of Financial Services and Securities Regulation by Chambers USA and America’s Leading Lawyers for Business; is an Illinois Super Lawyer and is listed in The Legal 500. Ms. Edwards is Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees and serves on the Executive, Audit and Nominating and Governance Committees for Rush University Medical Center, a leading academic medical center in Chicago. In Washington D.C., Ms. Edwards serves on the Leadership Board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness. Ms. Edwards received a B.A. in English and Education from the University of Maryland and a J.D., with honors, from the University of Maryland School of Law.
Ms. Edwards has not held any other public board memberships during the last five years.
Martin S. Eichenbaum
Glencoe, Illinois
Director since:
2015
Committee Membership:
Audit and Conduct Review Committee; Risk Review Committee
Martin Eichenbaum is the Charles Moskos Professor of Economics at Northwestern University (where he has been a Professor since 1988) and co-director of the Center for International Economics and Development at Northwestern University. He is an International Fellow of the C.D. Howe Institute and a fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society. He is also an Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a co-editor of its Macro Annual. He spent four years as the co-editor of the American Economic Review. He has served as a consultant to the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and Chicago and the International Monetary Fund. He received a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University and a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Minnesota.
Mr. Eichenbaum has not held any other public board memberships during the last five years.
Ronald H. Farmer
Toronto, Ontario
Director since:
2003
Committee Membership:
Human Resources Committee; Risk Review Committee
Ron Farmer is Managing Director of Mosaic Capital Partners, a Toronto-based management and holding company with interests in several private companies. Prior to joining Mosaic in 2003, he spent 25 years with McKinsey & Company, serving as the Managing Partner for the Canadian practice from 1991 to 1997. Mr. Farmer is a director of Integran Technologies and PowerMetal Technologies. He also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Schulich School of Business. He holds a B.A. and an M.B.A. from The University of Western Ontario.
Public Board Membership During the Last Five Years
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.
2011 – 2016
David Harquail
Toronto, Ontario
Director since:
2018
Committee Membership:
Audit and Conduct Review Committee
David Harquail is Chair of Franco-Nevada Corporation, a gold-focused royalty and streaming company. Mr. Harquail recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Franco-Nevada Corporation. He is also Chair of the World Gold Council which works to stimulate the demand for gold on behalf of the leading gold producers. He is currently active on the United Way Toronto & York Region Campaign Cabinet and has over 35 years of experience on public and non-profit boards and task force advisories. Mr. Harquail holds a B.A.Sc. in Geological Engineering from the University of Toronto, an MBA from McGill University and is a registered Professional Engineer in Ontario. He is also a major benefactor of the Harquail School of Earth Sciences and its Mineral Exploration Research Centre (MERC) at Laurentian University in Sudbury as well as the Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.
Public Board Membership During the Last Five Years
Franco-Nevada Corporation
2007 – Present
Lorraine Mitchelmore
Calgary, Alberta
Director since:
2015
Committee Membership:
Governance and Nominating Committee; Human Resources Committee(Chair); Risk Review Committee
Lorraine Mitchelmore, a Corporate Director, was recently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Enlighten Innovations Inc. She is also the Former Executive Vice President Heavy Oil for Shell, and Former Shell Canada Limited President and Canada Country Chair. Ms. Mitchelmore has over 30 years’ experience in the international Oil and Gas industry, including areas of risk management, business strategy, operations, and employee health and safety. Prior to joining Shell in 2002, Ms. Mitchelmore worked with PetroCanada, Chevron, and BHP Petroleum. Ms. Mitchelmore holds a BSc in Geophysics from Memorial University of Newfoundland, an MSc in Geophysics from the University of Melbourne, Australia and an MBA from Kingston Business School in London, England. Ms. Mitchelmore currently serves on the Catalyst Canada Board of Advisors, Suncor Energy Inc. Board of Directors and was the recent chair of the Federal Resources of the Future Economic Strategy Table. She is also the Founder and co-chair of Smart Prosperity.
Public Board Membership During the Last Five Years
Suncor Energy Inc.
2019 – Present
Linda S. Huber
New York, New York
Director since:
2017
Committee Membership:
Audit and Conduct Review Committee; Risk Review Committee
Linda S. Huber is Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer at MSCI Inc., where she manages the Company’s global finance and investor relations functions. Prior to that she was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Moody’s Corporation where she had executive responsibility for the corporation’s global finance activities, information technology, communications and corporate services functions, as well as The Moody’s Foundation. Before joining Moody’s in 2005, Ms. Huber served in several increasingly senior roles in financial services, having served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at U.S. Trust Company, a subsidiary of Charles Schwab & Company, Inc.; Managing Director at Freeman & Co.; Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Development and Vice President and Assistant Treasurer at PepsiCo. Ms. Huber also held the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army and during her four years of military service, she received two Meritorious Service Medals and became airborne qualified. Ms. Huber holds an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.S. (with high honors) in business and economics from Lehigh University.
Ms. Huber has not held any other public board memberships during the last five years.
Eric R. La Flèche
Montreal, Quebec
Director since:
2012
Committee Membership:
Human Resources Committee
Eric La Flèche is President and Chief Executive Officer of Metro Inc., a leading Canadian food and pharmacy retailer and distributor, since April 2008. He joined Metro in 1991 and has held several positions of increasing responsibility, including Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer from 2005 to 2008. Mr. La Flèche holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a civil law degree cum laude from the University of Ottawa. He is a long-time volunteer with Centraide of Greater Montreal (2015 Campaign Co-Chair) and serves on the advisory board of Tel-Jeunes, the leading kids help phone service in Quebec. In 2015, Mr. La Flèche was recognized as CEO of the Year in Quebec by Les Affaires, a leading business publication.
Public Board Membership During the Last Five Years
Metro Inc.
2008 – Present