Most Powerful Women in Banking Top Team: BMO Harris

By Mary Ellen Egan

October 5, 2022 6:00 AM

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.

BMO Harris

Headquarters: Chicago

Assets: $194 billion

Female representation among senior employees: 36%

Female representation on operating/management committee: 36%

When leadership noted that the women in the private wealth management division didn't have as high of a close ratio as their male counterparts, BMO quickly took action. The bank tapped Shannon Kennedy, global president of the BMO Family Office, to lead the initiative, and she designed a yearlong program with sessions focused on such topics as practice management, negotiations and emotional intelligence. Only six months into the program, one of the women had already doubled her sales revenues. BMO also launched two special credit programs in 2021 to support women-owned, Black and Latinx small businesses. These specialized programs have topped nearly $30 million in loan authorizations to more than 1,200 businesses since they became available in September 2021.

Selected executive highlights:

Carolyn Booth

Head of Distribution, U.S. Personal and Business Banking

Carolyn Booth is responsible for driving sales, service, and financial results for the U.S. personal and business banking. Her line of business is dedicated to serving retail and small and mid-sized business customers through more than 500 branches. She oversees 3,700 professionals across an eight-state footprint, and is committed to developing her employees skill sets. She hosts bimonthly leader conversations to build and support the talent pipeline across the lines of business she runs.

Erica Kuhlmann

Managing Director, Head of U.S. Food, Consumer and Agribusiness

Erica Kuhlmann leads a team of 85 food and agriculture experts. Their clients range from winemakers to grocery retailers to fertilizer producers. Under her leadership, loans have increased 40% since 2019. And since the beginning of the pandemic, 65 new clients have been added resulting in $50 million in incremental revenue. A member of the board of directors of the Chicagoland Food and Beverage Network, Kuhlmann is a frequent speaker at industry events. She also serves as a committee chair for Impact Grants Chicago, a women-led nonprofit that provides funding to other organizations dedicated to making a better Windy City.

The team

Erica Kuhlmann, Kara Kaiser, Shaheena Khan, Erminia Johannson, Gail Palac, Dawn Feenstra, Fellicia Foster, Kim Liautaud, Leslie Anderson, Niamh Kristufek, Shannon Kennedy, Catherine Blaesing, Ann Marie Wright, Summer Hinton, Carolyn Booth, Kristi Mitchem, Tracie Morris, Donna Parish, Kimberley Goode

See the other 2022 Top Teams: