TORONTO, ONTARIO and CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — (Marketwire) — 10/06/11 — BMO Financial Group has been recognized as one of the BEST organizations in the world for its strategic use of learning to achieve enterprise-wide success. The bank was honoured by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) in a ceremony held today in Washington, D.C., at the Pavilion in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.
The ASTD BEST Awards, one of the profession-s most rigorous awards programs, recognize organizations that create, support and champion a learning culture and that leverage the learning function as a strategic business tool to achieve enterprise-wide success.
BMO-s strategic approach to learning is founded upon three fundamental principles:
“Learning continually contributes to productivity improvement at BMO and is critical to every aspect of our success,” said Barbara Dirks, Chief Learning Officer, BMO Financial Group. “By implementing learning initiatives that support company strategy, demonstrate our commitment to customers and reinforce individual and business results, we have consistently introduced new and relevant ways to elevate both individual and company performance each year.”
About ASTD
“ASTD-s mission is to empower professionals to develop knowledge and skills successfully,” said Kristen Fyfe, Senior Manager of Communications for ASTD. “That is why we offer BEST Award winners the opportunity to share their best practices with each other and the broader community of learning executives. Our Learn from the BEST conference is one of the most content-rich learning events offered – due simply to the excellent efforts of our BEST Award winning organizations.”
About BMO Financial Group
Established in 1817 and based in Canada, BMO Financial Group serves more than 10 million personal, commercial, corporate and institutional customers in North America and internationally. Our operating groups – Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Bank of Montreal in Canada and Harris in the United States; Private Client Group, our wealth management business; and BMO Capital Markets – share one vision: to be the bank that defines great customer experience.
Contacts:
For Media Enquiries:
Canada
Ralph Marranca, Toronto
(416) 867-3996
Sarah Bensadoun, Montreal
(514) 877-8224
Laurie Grant, Vancouver
(604) 665-7596
U.S.
Jim Kappel, Chicago
(312) 461-2478