BMO Private Wealth names leadership duo

Meghan Meger and Geoff Newton will take over as co-heads of BMO Private Wealth in Canada effective June 1 following Andrew Auerbach’s retirement.

Meger has been working as regional president for BMO Private Wealth in the Prairies for the past three years. She started at BMO in 2004 as vice-president and senior private banker in Calgary.

Newton was named BMO Private Wealth’s head of strategy and execution last fall, a new role focused on strategy and advisor recruitment and loyalty.

BMO Private Wealth has comprised BMO Private Banking and BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. since 2019.

The appointment of co-heads “furthers the integrated and unified offering of comprehensive wealth management and advisory services” brought together under the private wealth banner, a release from the firm said.

The pair will report to Deland Kamanga, group head of BMO Wealth Management.

“BMO’s Canadian Private Wealth business is a driving force of the bank’s strategy and we look forward to innovating and advancing the business under Meghan and Geoff’s experienced leadership,” Kamanga said in a statement.

Meger has worked at other big banks in addition to BMO, including more than a decade at RBC Wealth Management early in her career and a stint as president of Private Banking 1859 in Western Canada for National Bank of Canada from 2015 to 2019.

Newton joined BMO Nesbitt Burns in 1997. He’s held multiple senior management roles and “played a key role in the creation of BMO’s Canadian Private Wealth business,” the release said.

Auerbach, who spent more than two decades with the bank, gave notice in December that he planned to step down. He retired on March 31.

Deland Kamanga, who was named group head of BMO Wealth Management in November 2021, has been acting head on an interim basis since Auerbach’s announcement in December.