BMO for Women’s strategic partners and supported organizations provide valuable expertise, leadership, knowledge, and opportunities for women to network and learn.
The Women Presidents’ Organization Inc. (WPO) is a non-profit membership organization for women presidents of multimillion-dollar companies. The members of WPO take part in professionally facilitated peer advisory groups, which include a BMO employee to accelerate the growth of their larger-sized businesses. WPO is an international organization, and works with us all across Canada and the US.
The Financial Women’s Association (FWA) is network of female professionals from various sectors of the financial world. Founded in 1956, the FWA is a professional organization focused on enhancing the role of women in finance, as well as fostering the development of young female leaders. The FWA serves its members through educational programs and networking opportunities, and serves the community through its nationally acclaimed scholarship, mentoring and training programs.
The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) is a US organization, founded in 1975, that has the purpose of networking the approximately 10.6 million women-owned businesses so as to provide mutual support, share resources, and provide a single voice to help shape economic and public policy. Our partnership with NAWBO’s Chicago chapter spans over 2 decades, and with chapters all across the US, NAWBO is a one-stop resource to propelling women business owners into greater economic, social and political spheres of power worldwide.
The mission of the Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC) is to support and accelerate business development and growth, targeting women and serving other underserved communities and veterans, in order to strengthen their participation in, and impact on, the economy. WBDC holds workshops and events in our five major markets: Chicago, IL; Kansas City, KS; Milwaukee, WI; Minneapolis, MN; and St. Louis, MO.
Founded in 1997, WXN is Canada’s leading organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of women in management, executive, professional and board roles. WXN is a Founding Member of the Canadian Board Diversity Council, dedicated to increasing the diversity of Canada’s corporate boards. In 2008, WXN launched in Ireland, followed by London, UK in 2015, creating an international community of female leaders.
BMO is both a member and sponsor of Catalyst, a leading non-profit organization with a mission to accelerate progress for women through workplace inclusion.
The Chicago Financial Women’s Alliance is a network of professionals in the financial services industry with a mission to grow a strong pipeline of future female leaders for Chicago’s financial services industry. They foster the advancement of women to executive leadership positions in Chicago by promoting a diverse and inclusive culture, connectivity, collaboration and knowledge sharing across member firms. The alliance is sponsored and supported by the executives and employee resource groups of BMO Financial Group, Deutsche Bank, Bank of New York Mellon, Morningstar and other financial institutions in the Chicagoland area. BMO is a founding sponsor.
WBE Canada certifies majority-owned, managed, and controlled women’s businesses and facilitates opportunities for them to meet buyers and get access to bids for corporate contracts as part of supplier diversity programs. As a corporate member, BMO has access to a pool of certified and innovative Women Business Enterprises and works very closely with our Supplier Management group to ensure a diverse and well represented supply chain.
Women Get On Board is a leading member-based company that connects, promotes and empowers women to corporate boards. We do this through an engaged community of women and men in Canada committed to advancing gender diversity in the boardroom.