Honorary Colonel Rose M. Patten, OC
Honorary Colonel of the Canadian Forces College
Dr. Rose M. Patten, OC, is a Special Advisor to the CEO and Senior Executives at BMO Financial Group, and is well-known from her 30-year career as a senior leader in the Canadian financial services industry. Previously, she held simultaneously the positions of Executive Vice-President, Business Strategy and Executive Vice-President, Global Human Resources at BMO. Earlier in her career she was Executive Vice-President, BMO Nesbitt Burns, Senior Vice-President, Manulife, and General Manager, Lloyds Bank Canada. She has also held directorships at BMO ChinaCo and Videotron.
Dr. Patten is the 34th Chancellor of the University of Toronto, elected to a three-year term in the position beginning 1 July 2018. Highly sought-after as an authority on the study and practice of leadership, Dr. Patten has extensive experience as an advisor in the fields of senior leadership development and succession, strategy execution, and governance, in corporate and community settings. At the University of Toronto, she is currently Executive-in-Residence and Adjunct Professor in executive leadership programmes at the Rotman School of Management. She is also a member of Massey College.
Dr. Patten served on the University of Toronto’s Governing Council for nine years, from 1998 to 2007, including three years as Chair, from 2004 to 2007. She also chaired the Task Force on Governance, whose report in 2010 included the recommendations that led to the University’s current tri-campus governance structure. Throughout the Boundless Campaign, she was a member of the Campaign Executive, and from 2012 to 2018 she served as Honorary Patron of the King’s College Circle Heritage Society. She has also established several scholarships, fellowships, and awards, and supported the education of women, underprivileged children, and new Canadians. From 2014 to 2017, Dr. Patten was Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Hospital for Sick Children, and in 2019, the Board appointed her Honorary Chair and Honorary Trustee in recognition of her exceptional service. In 2019, she was appointed to the boards of Canada Company and the Canadian Foundation for Physically Disabled Persons. In 2009, the University awarded her the degree Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, for her leadership as a role model for women executives in Canadian banking, for her community volunteerism, and for her service to the University. The University also established the Rose Patten Mentoring Leadership Programme, in recognition of her long-standing commitment to mentorship.
Recognized by U.S. Banker Magazine as one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking, Dr. Patten was inducted in 2007 into the Hall of Fame of the Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women Awards. She received the YWCA’s Woman of Distinction Award for Corporate Leadership in 2009, and in 2014, she received the Canadian HR industry’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2012 she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and in 2017, Dr. Patten was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Dr. Patten was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Canadian Forces College on 8 September 2022.
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