BMO Financial Group appointed Deland Kamanga group head of BMO Wealth Management and designated Sharon Haward-Laird, general counsel of the company, as the bank’s executive committee sponsor for three areas of focus: sustainability, the BMO for Women program and digital currency. BMO also appointed Dan Goldman and Levent Kahraman co-heads of global markets. All of these appointments will take effect on Nov. 1.
In his new role, Kamanga, who will also join BMO’s executive committee, will lead the strategic direction of BMO Wealth Management, including Private Wealth Canada (BMO Nesbitt Burns and private banking), U.S. wealth management, BMO Global Asset Management, BMO InvestorLine and BMO Insurance. He will report to Darryl White, CEO of BMO Financial Group.
Kamanga started his career with BMO Nesbitt Thomson in 1991 and since 2006 has served clients and led teams throughout BMO Capital Markets, including structured products, and as head of fixed income, currencies and commodities. He has overseen product development, the acquisition of KGS-Alpha and Clearpool and the implementation of large-scale technology and data strategies. Most recently, as head of global markets, he led a team delivering markets-based solutions for corporate, institutional and government clients.
“I have very high confidence in the future of BMO Wealth Management under Del’s leadership. Wealth Management is well-positioned for growth and we are investing to achieve it,” White said. “Del’s client focus, technical expertise, track record as a visionary strategist and personal brand as a values-based manager defines his leadership.”
Kamanga serves on the BMO Capital Markets diversity, equity and inclusion committee and is an executive sponsor of Women in Capital Markets’ Return to Bay Street program, BMO Black Professionals Network Canada and BMO’s Black and Latino Advisory Council. He was recently awarded the 2021 Catalyst Champion Award in recognition of his work accelerating progress for all women through workplace inclusion. He is also a member of the SickKids board of trustees in Toronto.
As general counsel of BMO, Haward-Laird leads the bank’s legal and regulatory compliance groups. She is responsible for corporate governance, banking regulation and supervision and litigation. She also oversees the bank’s ethics, ombudsman, sustainability and investigations practices. She is a member of the bank’s executive committee and chairs the bank’s enterprise regulatory and reputation risk committees.
“Sharon’s combination of senior business and corporate function leadership makes her a natural leader for growth opportunities that cut across our businesses and corporate areas,” White said. “She will lead our executive committee integration to achieve the alignment needed on these important future-focused initiatives.”
Goldman and Kahraman will oversee all aspects of BMO’s market insights, risk management, execution services and access to markets across asset classes, including debt, foreign exchange, interest rate, credit, equity, securitization and commodities. They will report to Dan Barclay, CEO and group head of BMO Capital Markets.
“Dan and Levent joined BMO in 2018 with the acquisition of KGS-Alpha, a fixed income broker-dealer they co-founded and grew to a market leader,” Barclay said. “Together, they bring a wealth of management and trading experience and have been critical in driving our growth agenda as leaders of our securitized products business and, recently, co-heads of fixed income, currencies and commodities.”
