Dive Brief:

• Bank of America veteran Aron Levine will become group head and president of BMO U.S., effective July 7, the Canadian bank said Thursday.
• Levine’s role is a new position at BMO, a bank spokesperson said. Levine left BofA in April, after spending more than three decades in various roles at the bank. 
• Additionally, Ernie (Erminia) Johannson – who has led BMO's North American personal and business banking group since 2020 – intends to retire from BMO in early 2026, the bank said. She will become a senior adviser at the company.

Dive Insight:

During Levine’s nearly 32 years at Bank of America, he led units within consumer banking, global wealth and investment management, and commercial real estate. Most recently, he was president of preferred banking at the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender.

With his new role, Levine will join the executive committee of BMO Financial Group and the U.S. management committee. He’ll be based at BMO’s U.S. headquarters in Chicago, leading personal and business banking, commercial banking and wealth management businesses in the U.S. 

He’ll report to BMO CEO Darryl White and BMO U.S. CEO Darrel Hackett.

Levine’s appointment was one of a number of changes disclosed Thursday amid a broader executive reshuffling, along with Johannson’s retirement. 

Johannson has been at Toronto-based BMO since 2012. Prior to that, she served at Fidelity Investments and spent 13 years at CIBC, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

Additionally, Nadim Hirji will be appointed vice chair of BMO’s commercial banking segment. Hirji has led BMO's North American commercial banking business since March 2023, the bank said.

“Today's announcement reflects BMO's deep strength in talent development and planning, and our ability to attract exceptional leaders to serve our clients,” White said in the news release.

“This next step supports the rebuilding of our ROE, including optimizing our U.S. structure by combining our U.S. Personal & Business Banking, Commercial Banking, and Wealth Management businesses to deliver for our clients,” White said. “These experienced leaders bring the capabilities that will help us accelerate our performance through greater collaboration, integration of AI, data and cloud computing for faster, more innovative work, and personalized client advice and service.”

The reshuffle detailed Thursday is aimed at supporting the bank’s growth goals across Canada and certain U.S. markets and bolstering client service, BMO said. 

Sharon Haward-Laird, BMO’s general counsel, will become group head of Canadian commercial banking and North American shared services.

Mat Mehrotra, chief digital officer and head of Canadian products, will become group head of Canadian personal and business banking.

Haward-Laird, who joined BMO in 2000, and Mehrotra, who’s been at the bank since 2010, have also been named co-heads of Canadian personal and commercial banking. Haward-Laird will remain on the lender’s executive committee, and Mehrotra will join it.

Paul Noble will become general counsel and group head of legal and regulatory compliance and join the bank’s executive committee. Noble has been at the bank since 2003 and serves as corporate secretary in the enterprise legal department.  

Mona Malone, the bank’s chief human resources officer, will also take the chief administrative officer title, and remain on the bank’s executive committee; she’s been at BMO since 1996. 

Deland Kamanga will remain group head of wealth management and on the executive committee, but has been tapped as the committee’s sponsor for initiatives designed to deepen and expand client relationships across BMO’s businesses. 

All of the changes take effect July 7. BMO is the seventh-largest bank in North America by assets, with $1.4 trillion, and serves 13 million customers across Canada, the U.S. and certain international markets.