Sharon Haward-Laird is responsible for the strategic growth and leadership of BMO’s Canadian Commercial bank, the bank’s North American Integrated Solutions teams including Treasury and Payments Solutions, Virtual Connect, Retail Payments, and Sustainability, and co-leads BMO’s Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking Group. These teams deliver products and services tailored to a wide variety of customer needs across BMO’s footprint and are integral to the bank’s One Client strategy.

She is a member of BMO’s Executive Committee and serves as executive sponsor for sustainability, the BMO Indigenous Advisory Council, the BMO for Women program, and digital currency. She also chairs the BMO Climate Institute.

Since joining BMO in 2000, Sharon has held senior leadership roles across the bank’s corporate functions and operating groups, including Deputy General Counsel, Capital Markets; Head of Corporate Communications, Government and Investor Relations; and Head, North American Treasury & Payment Solutions. Most recently, she served as General Counsel and led BMO’s legal and regulatory compliance, sustainability, and procurement groups.

Sharon is committed to the community including serving on the Advisory Board of Catalyst Canada, which focuses on creating, maintaining and sustaining workplaces where all can thrive; the Board of Directors of the CAMH Foundation, which enables leading-edge research, care and education at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada’s largest mental health teaching hospital and one of the world’s leading research centres in its field; the Board of CivicAction Leadership Foundation, dedicated to building the collective leadership capacity across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area; and the United Way Greater Toronto 2025 Community Campaign Cabinet, which aims to address local poverty and improve community conditions.

Sharon obtained her Bachelor of Laws from the University of Toronto and practised commercial litigation at Torys LLP. She has been a member of the Board of Directors of Moneris Corporation and was vice-chair of Interac Corporation.

(September 2025)