Karen Collins

Karen Collins is the Chief Talent Officer and leads the Talent & Culture team at BMO Financial Group. BMO is the 8th largest bank, by assets, in North America with 12 million customers in the areas of personal and commercial banking, wealth management and investment services and over 43,000 employees.

In her role, Karen has enterprise accountability for Talent Management; Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; Leadership & Succession Planning; Executive Development and Organization Design & Effectiveness.

Karen joined BMO in 2005 as a Senior Human Resource Business Partner and has held progressively more senior leadership roles across the organization. Karen was the Chief Human Resources Officer for BMO’s Wealth & Asset Management and Canadian Personal & Commercial Banking businesses leading the team providing HR strategies and programs. Prior to her transition into the Chief Talent Officer role in 2019, she served as Regional Vice-President for BMO’s Toronto East Personal Banking market leading a team providing banking, lending and investment solutions and advice.

Early in her career, Karen worked at Coca-Cola Bottling and Ernst & Young as an HR generalist and management consultant. Her career experiences have consistently highlighted achievements in the development and implementation of enterprise strategies and individualized plans to assist leaders in achieving their potential, passion, and purpose and to create engaged, inclusive and productive teams.

Karen has a BA (Honours) from the University of Victoria and an MBA from the University of Calgary. She is a proud wife and mother, has 2 beloved Labrador retrievers, and enjoys travelling with her family and staying active.