Julie Barker-Merz

Julie is Regional Vice-President, South Western Ontario Division for Bank of Montreal where she leads a team of retail and business banking professionals across 10 markets and 150 branches, from Owen Sound to Niagara Falls and through to London and Windsor. She is a Board Member of The Accelerator Centre; the Greater Kitchener Chamber of Commerce; The Museum in Kitchener; Advisor to sheEO’s Radical Generosity movement; and is the former Director and Treasurer of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. She is a long-standing and strong supporter of women in business, sport and the community and a 2015 recipient of The International Alliance of Women’s (TIAW) top 100 World of Difference awards, as well as one of Canada’s Top 50 to watch in Wealth Management in 2016. And in 2018, she was most recently awarded Ontario’s Leading Women, Building Communities award of excellence.

Throughout her 20+ year career with BMO Financial Group, Julie has earned the reputation of being a leader who executes with pace, courage, and excellence, inspiring multi-disciplinary teams to come together towards a common vision. Julie received her undergraduate degree at the University of Ottawa, her Fellow from the Institute of Canadian Bankers and her MBA from Dalhousie University. She is fluently bilingual (English/French), a mother of 2 young girls and a proud resident of the Waterloo region.