Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) Monday announced the appointment of Mario Rigante as its new senior vice president, Quebec division.

Rigante will succeed François Hudon, who was named head, North American customer contact centres (CCC), BMO Financial Group.

Rigante will lead a team of more than 2,000 personal and commercial banking experts who meet the needs of one million clients through BMO’s network of 146 branches in Quebec.

Rigante holds an MBA in Financial Services from Dalhousie University and has more than 20 years of experience in various leadership roles. He was vice president, commercial banking for the Metropolitan Montreal area for the past year. Prior to that, he had been district vice president, Laval and Northwest Quebec since 2007.

Rigante is actively involved in the community and is a member of various boards, including the board of the En Coeur Foundation that provides help for children with heart problems and their families.

François Hudon was appointed to the newly created position of Head, North American customer contact centres (CCC), BMO Financial Group. In this role, Hudon will develop and implement an operating strategy for a North American-wide, multilingual CCC that is aligned with BMO personal and commercial client group strategies for Canada and the United States as well as its private client group. He will assume oversight of a team of 3,000 employees in call centres in Montreal, Toronto, Chicago and Milwaukee.

Hudon had managed the Quebec division of BMO Bank of Montreal since 2001, and was also co-head of North American specialized sales at BMO.