Toronto-based Bank of Montreal (BMO) announced on Thursday that its millennial leaders advisory council, now in its second year, has 27 new women-student members that will provide the firm with guidance in its ongoing efforts to promote gender diversity in the workplace.
The new members are university students from across Canada and replace the first cohort of the council, which is a partnership between BMO and Catalyst Canada Inc. The council’s purpose is to develop strategies to advance women and build inclusive workplaces.
“For us at BMO, it’s important that we have these types of discussions and encounters with individuals coming into the workforce,” says Sonya Kunkel, chief inclusion officer and vice president of people strategies and insights at BMO, in a statement. “It gives us a lot of insight into how we should be tailoring our people strategies.”
The students are between the ages of 20 and 27 and will also act as ambassadors at their individual campuses to encourage dialogue of gender diversity at a local level.
“Our purpose in establishing the council is simple: to inspire millennials to be agents of change,” says Bill Downe, CEO of BMO, in a statement. “The path to ensuring that the quality of opportunities in the workplace is the same for everyone has been leading Canadian organizations steadily in the right direction, but it’s never fast enough.”
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