Shift your Culture from 'That’s the way we’ve always done it' to 'This is how we can do it!'

December 2016

Abstract

Legal departments in every industry and of every size are increasingly focused on how they can drive innovation and creativity amongst their teams to achieve better outcomes. BMO Financial Group (BMO), celebrating its bicentennial in 2017, is a global financial institution headquartered in Canada with operations in the United States, Europe and Asia. Set out below are two initiatives we created and implemented to create a culture open to innovation and cooperative collaboration to drive better outcomes for our customers, employees and shareholders.

Author

Bindu Cudjoe

Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Technology & Operations Legal and Chief Knowledge Officer, Bank of Montreal, Canada

Bindu Cudjoe is Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, T&O Legal and Chief Knowledge Officer of the legal, compliance and security groups at BMO Financial Group (BMO). She is accountable for managing legal and regulatory risk relating to technology, procurement, outsourcing, intellectual property and enterprise brand, marketing and social media. Additionally, she is responsible for knowledge management; including board and senior management reporting, project management, records and information management, centralized litigation support (e-discovery and legal holds), internal knowledge-sharing systems, and internal professional development programs. Bindu was most recently Deputy General Counsel & Chief Operating Officer, accountable for the groups’ operations including human resources, real estate, financial performance, strategic initiatives and the outside counsel management programs. Bindu started at BMO as Senior Counsel in the Canadian Personal & Commercial legal team and then led the BMO Capital Markets Corporate Banking legal team. Prior to joining BMO in 2012, she was a partner in McMillan LLP's Financial Services group and is an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall law school at York University. Bindu is active in her local community as a director and secretary of the Oakville Community Foundation. She is also active in the legal community as a director of the South Asian Bar Association of Toronto and an executive member of Women General Counsel Canada. Bindu is a frequent speaker, panellist and writer on topics of innovation, diversity & inclusion and women in the legal profession. Bindu was recognized in 2016 as one of the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada by Canadian Lawyer Magazine and was a 2014 recipient of the Lexpert Magazine Rising Star award and the South Asian Bar Association of Toronto’s 2014 Legal Excellence Award.

Company

Bank of Montreal

Established in 1817, BMO Financial Group is a highly diversified financial services provider based in North America. We are the eighth largest bank in North America by assets, with total assets of $710 billion and an engaged and diverse base of employees. BMO provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers. We serve eight million customers across Canada through our Canadian personal and commercial arm, BMO Bank of Montreal. We also serve customers through our wealth management businesses: BMO Global Asset Management, BMO Nesbitt Burns, BMO Private Banking, BMO Insurance and BMO InvestorLine. BMO Capital Markets, our investment and corporate banking and trading products division, provides a full suite of financial products and services to North American and international clients. In the United States, BMO serves customers through BMO Harris Bank, based in the U.S. Midwest with more than two million retail, small business and commercial customers. BMO Financial Group conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets.

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Shift your Culture from 'That’s the way we’ve always done it' to 'This is how we can do it!'

Abstract

Author

Company

Bank of Montreal

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