Interests & Passions

Ian Stanley Graham

Head, Technology and Operations Strategy and Initiatives
BMO Financial Group
250 Yonge Street, 17th Floor
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5B 2M8
Tel (W): 416-552-4230
Email (W):   ian DOT graham [AT] bmo DOT com
Email (P):   ian [AT] iangraham DOT org
Web: www.iangraham.org
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/pub/1/299/275
Facebook: facebook.com/p/Ian_Graham/733746020

Expertise / Experience

Work History

Head, Technology and Operations Strategy and Initiatives, BMO Financial Group 2012–today
  • Lead a team of 10 senior business consultants
  • Build business strategy for the Technology and Operations group; Define and lead strategic initiatives in support of the strategy
  • Recent successes: Real estate strategy for T&O; operating model for process excellence; refresh of Technology and Operations group strategy; redesign of annual investment planning process
Senior Consulting Manager, IT Strategy and Planning, BMO Financial Group 2009–2012
  • Managed multiple IT strategy project engagements; managed and coached six junior consultants
  • Managed relationships with senior executives, and used those to build a book of work
  • Built and led a 4-person Applied Innovation team ( operating model, steering committees, etc.)
  • Developed with leadership new operating model for Technology and Operations
  • Other focus areas: process redesign / Content Management; Application Portfolio Management; Retail investment sales support; near real-time costomer correspondence (alerts, offers); retail banking IT strategy
Senior Consultant, IT Strategy and Planning, BMO Financial Group 2002–2009
  • Led consulting engagements for sponsoring senior business and IT executives
  • Built IT strategies (roadmaps, cost/benefit analysis, change management plans) for multiple business areas
  • Co-led (with business peer) strategic planning team for a multi-year (~$500 million) project.
  • Voting member of bank's architectural governance review board.
  • Other focus areas: sales and service strategies and platforms; strateges for learning, HR, online banking; application development process improvement (agile, iterative, requirements maagement, outsourcing, PM practice, etc. )
Senior Manager, Emerging Business strategy, BMO Financial Group 2000–2002
  • Lead and participated in technical / business diligence reviews of external companies (vendors and partners)
  • Technical liaison supporting business executives working with technology teams
  • Reviewed technology-focused business proposals / business cases and provide commentary / feedback
  • Created technology-driven business cases for proposed emerging technology ventures (e.g. peer-to-peer payments, mobile banking, small-footprint branch platforms)
Vice-President of Research and Development, Groveware Inc. 1997–1999
  • Co-founder of Groveware Inc.: vendor of leading-edge Web collaboration platforms built on an XML- and Java-based application server.
  • Led product development and R&D operations; recruited all technical staff.
  • Build customer support team, and coordinated quality assurance
Instructional Technology Specialist, University of Toronto 1994–2000
Visiting Professor, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Palma, SPAIN 1993
  • led local research team in study of simulation algorithms for measuring fluctuations in far-from-equilibrium systems.
  • Studied theoretical aspects of thermodynamic measures accessible from these simulation approaches
  • Lectured at the University and elsewhere
Previous Positions
  • Research Associate,Industrial Materials Institute – NRCC and McGill University
  • Postdoctoral Fellow – Dept. of Chemistry, University of Toronto

Education (and Academic Awards)

Degree University and Awards
  • PhD (Biophysics)
 McGill University – NSERC and Reinhart Fellowships, Dean's Honour list
  • French Language Program
Alliance Francaise (Paris)
  • MSc (High Energy Physics)
University of Toronto – NSERC Fellowship
  • BSc (Honours Physics)
 University of Victoria – Francis Gold Watch/leading student

Talks, Presentations, and Other Activities

I have given many talks and presentations on subjects ranging from the business of software development to Web technology and architecture to the cultural and business impact of the Web. Some of these presentations are found at: http://www.iangraham.org/talks/index.html

I was the chair for the Developer's Day portion of the eighth International World Wide Web conference (WWW8), held in Toronto, Ontario, May 11-14 1999. A list of the Developer's day tracks, and links to some of the presentations, is available online.

References

Upon request.

Personal Data

Citizenship: Canadian Languages: English, French (Passable)