The Volatility Wild Card

Kristi Mitchem is Co-Chief Executive Officer and head of BMO Global Asset Management (BMO GAM), BMO’s asset management division, where she co-leads a team of investment professionals dedicated to delivering investment solutions across a range of asset classes including multi-asset, alternative and more traditional exposure to listed fixed income and equities. Prior to joining BMO in 2019, Ms. Mitchem served as the CEO of Wells Fargo Asset Management where she led 28 autonomous investment teams. She has more than 20 years of experience in roles related to asset management, defined contribution pension plans and equities markets at State Street Corporation, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs. Ms. Mitchem is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion. At State Street she was a driving force in bringing to market a gender diversity index exchange-traded fund (ticker: SHE) designed to invest in U.S. companies committed to advancing the roles women play in their management and on their boards. Ms. Mitchem was named one of the Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business by the San Francisco Business Times in 2018, as one of the Top Women in Asset Management by Money Management Executive in 2017, and as one of Treasury & Risk’s Top 100 Influential People in 2008. She is also listed in several patent filings focused around guaranteed income requirements. Ms. Mitchem earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Davidson College, where she graduated summa cum laude and was awarded First Honors. She earned a master’s degree in business administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was an Arjay Miller Scholar. She is also a Fulbright Scholar.

Kevin is the Head of Exchange Traded Funds. Kevin is a key asset to the team with over 18 years of progressive investment industry experience, including global passive and active strategies. Prior to joining BMO GAM, he served as Principal, Portfolio Manager at Barclays Global Investors Canada where he played an integral role in overseeing the management of Exchange Traded Funds and Institutional mandates. Kevin also worked as an index arbitrage trader with Scotia Capital. Kevin continues to be an active participant in the financial services industry, serving as a member of the Standard & Poor’s Advisory Panel, and the Dow Jones Global Index Committee. Kevin studied Economics, Finance and Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. Kevin was named one of IIAC’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2015 and is currently the Chairman of Canadian ETF Association.

Jennifer joined BMO Global Asset Management in September 2015 as an equity analyst with a focus on ESG, industrials, large cap energy and materials (non-mining). Jennifer spent a decade at a Canadian Bank with experience in Investment Banking, Research and Institutional Sales. In addition she has a further 7 years’ experience as a Chartered Accountant at one of the big four accounting firms and teaching undergraduate finance at a Canadian University. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto and is a CFA Charterholder, Chartered Accountant and Chartered Professional Accountant.

Ariel is responsible for equity portfolio management and research. She joined the company in 2018. Ariel began her career in the investment industry in 2005. Prior to joining BMO, she was a quantitative researcher at RBC Global Asset Management, where she designed quantitative investment strategies. Prior to that, she was an associate portfolio manager for the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and an investment analyst for the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

She holds a Master of Mathematical Finance and a Global Professional Master of Laws from University of Toronto. Ariel also has a M.A. in economics from Simon Fraser University and a B.B.A. in finance from Nankai University. In addition, she is a CFA charterholder and a Certified Financial Risk Manager.

Chris joined the BMO ETF portfolio management team in 2011, and focuses on factor-based equity and derivative-overlay portfolios, including but not limited to BMO’s Low Volatility, Dividend, and Covered Call equity ETF suites. His prior investment experience includes a role as a quantitative equity research associate, and work in investment funds product and client support. Chris holds a Masters of Finance from the University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management (Dean’s List), where he studied investments, including derivatives and derivative pricing. Chris also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Waterloo with studies in History and Mathematics and the CFA designation.

Lutz joined BMO Asset Management Inc.’s Canadian equity team in March 2012 as a portfolio manager primarily focused on the firm’s large cap Canadian dividend and income strategies. Prior to joining BMO AM, Lutz was a portfolio manager with BMO Harris Investment Management where he managed several Canadian equity yield and core mandates. In addition to Lutz’s over two decades of experience in both portfolio management and research, he holds a Master of Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business and is a CFA charterholder.

Sam is responsible for leading a highly talented team of wholesalers, internal wholesalers and sales associates in the development and growth BMO Mutual Funds, ETFs and Segregated Funds throughout the Canadian distribution network of Financial Advisors. Sam oversees investment dealer relations nationally, with a focus on integration of investment products and partnership through the knowledge and expertise of his distribution team. Sam has over 22 years of experience in the financial services industry, ranging from institutional pension, mutual funds, insurance segregated funds and ETFs. He is a graduate of Guelph University in Management Economics and has been with BMO Asset Management since 2009.

Jeff joined BMO Global Asset Management in August of 2021 from BMO Capital Markets, where he served as head of Global Financial Institutions, with responsibilities that included serving Asset and Wealth managers. Previous to this, Jeff had a number of leadership roles at BMO including heading Trade Finance, Treasury & Payments Solutions and Asia Corporate Banking, in addition to serving as an advisor in Corporate Strategy. Prior to BMO, Jeff worked as a strategy consultant, as a university researcher and as an entrepreneur. He has authored a number of patents related to advanced technology interface design. He holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Queen’s University and an MBA from Cornell University.

Eva is the Director and HR Business Partner for BMO Global Asset Management and leads a team that also oversees BMO InvestorLine, BMO Insurance and BMO Wealth Headquarters. Eva is an HR Leader that has over 16 years of experience in the Financial Services industry with a deep focus in the Asset Management space. Over her career she has led critical transformative initiatives and had spent time at SunLife as a SunLife Advisor. Eva has both an Honours Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto and an HR Management post graduate degree from Seneca College. She is a Certified Human Resources Leader (CHRL) and is active in the community supporting the United Way, Second Harvest Toronto Taste and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.

Peter leads Product and Sales Enablement for BMO GAM. He joined the company in 2020. Prior to working with BMO, Peter spent 20 years with Invesco. During that time he held a number of roles, most recently serving as the Head of Wealth Management intermediaries for the Americas and President & Chief Operating Officer for Canada. Peter is a recognized leader within the asset management industry, pioneering an entirely new way of transacting in mutual funds with the launch of Platform Traded Funds™, advancing digital onboarding tools for advisors and independent distributors, and implementing advanced analytic capabilities. He holds an M.B.A. from the Rotman School of Management and a BASc in engineering from the University of Toronto.

Ross is accountable for the development and implementation of a multi-year distribution strategy for BMO Global Asset Management’s suite of Canadian retail and institutional investment products, with retail brands including BMO Mutual Funds and BMO Exchange Traded Funds. Ross has over 30 years of investment industry experience and is a Director of BMO Investments Inc., BMO Corporate Class Funds and BMO Asset Management Inc. In his previous roles, Ross was Co-President of BMO Investments Inc. and President, Guardian Group of Funds Ltd. Ross was also Board Chair of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC) from 2017 to 2019, and now serves as a Director and member of the IFIC Executive Committee. Ross is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds a Bachelor of Arts, Economics from the University of Western Ontario.

Bill Bamber is Co-Chief Executive Officer of BMO Global Asset Management (BMO GAM). Bill has more than 30 years of experience in the financial industry. He has extensive experience in International Capital Markets, most notably in exotic derivatives spanning all asset classes as well as global Structuring and Structured Products. Bill joined BMO Wealth Management in April 2022 as Head of Synthetic Asset Management and in August 2022 became Co-CEO of BMO GAM. Prior to BMO, Bill was Managing Director and Head, Wealth Solutions Group at CIBC Capital Markets where he oversaw CIBC Structured Products and QIS businesses globally and led many ground-breaking initiatives and innovative indices such as the Human Capital Index. Before joining CIBC, he was a Senior Managing Director at Bear, Stearns & Co. and led Equity Derivative structuring in the Americas. Bill is well-known as an innovator in the investment industry with an outstanding track record for product firsts around the world. This includes pioneering the world’s first Emerging Market ETF (STX40 SJ Equity), creating the first MLP-linked security outside of the U.S., and as well as creating the first MLP Index tracking security (now AMJ US), which captured mtn-i’s U.S. Alternative Deal of the Year award in 2007 for LBBW’s Adagio Index-linked Note. He was also the first to create a listed trading platform for zero-coupon South African gilts. Bill is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and holds both a Master of Management Analytics and a Master of Business Administration from Queen’s University.