L. Jacques Ménard served as President of BMO in Quebec from 2001 to 2018. In that role he was responsible for the activities of the Bank of Montreal and its various subsidiaries in Quebec. He also chaired the BMO Nesbitt Burns Board of Directors.
The list of boards and organizations that benefitted from having L. Jacques Ménard as a director is impressive. They include WestJet, Claridge Inc., Power Energy Eagle Creek, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Gairdner Foundation, the Macdonald Stewart Foundation, the Mobilys Foundation and Robotique FIRST Québec. He also served as Chair of the Board of Directors of Montréal International and Youth Fusion.
Mr. Ménard is a past chair of the boards of Hydro-Québec, the Montreal Exchange, Trans-Canada Options Corporation and the Investment Dealers Association of Canada, and he also sat on the boards of Rona Inc, Bowater Incorporated, Stingray Digital, the Montreal Heart Institute and the Canadian Public Accountability Board (CPAB). His career in the securities industry spanned more than 40 years, and he was also Chancellor Emeritus of Concordia University, his alma mater, from 2011 to 2014.
In 2008, he published his first book, Si on s’y mettait… and went on to create Groupe d’action sur la persévérance et la réussite scolaire, a task force aimed at encouraging young people to stay in school and that produced a report entitled, “Savoir pour pouvoir.”
He went on to publish another book on the same topic, Au-delà des chiffres… Une affaire de cœur as well as Réussir : Aller au bout de ses rêves.
From 2009 to 2010 he was Vice-Chair of the Task Force on Financial Literacy created by Canada’s Minister of Finance. In partnership with The Boston Consulting Group, he initiated a comprehensive study called “Building Momentum in Montreal” and a subsequent program to revitalize Montreal, “Je Vois Montréal,” in collaboration with the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.
A 2009 recipient of the Public Policy Forum’s Testimonial Dinner Award, Mr. Ménard was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 1995 and promoted to Officer in 2000. From 2005 to 2008 he served on the Chancellery of Honours of the Order of Canada Advisory Board and in December 2012 was promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada, the highest rank within the Order and the highest civilian honour in the country.
After being named Officer of Ordre national du Québec in 2010, Jacques Ménard was promoted to Grand Officer in 2017, the highest civic honour bestowed by the Quebec government.
In 2013 he was one of the first eight people to be inducted into the Investment Industry Association of Canada Hall of Fame and in 2015 he was the first recipient of the Public Policy Forum’s Marcel Côté Award for Leadership in Public Policy. In December 2016, Mr. Ménard was named a Commander of the Order of Montreal.
L. Jacques Ménard was a graduate of the University of Western Ontario (MBA, 1970), Loyola College (B.Comm. Hon. Econ., 1967) and Collège Sainte-Marie (B.A.,1966). He held honorary doctorates from Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, McGill University, Glendon College at York University, Université de Montréal, Concordia University and Université de Sherbrooke.