REPEAT-MEDIA ADVISORY: The Business Case for Women on Corporate Boards / Catalyst COO, Deborah Gillis; Manulife past Chair, Gail Cook-Bennett; and BMO CEO, Bill Downe, to lead panel discussion at Toronto Region Board of Trade

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 05/14/13 -- News Media are invited to the Toronto Region Board of Trade, on Wednesday, May 15 at 8 a.m. EDT, to hear Gail Cook-Bennett, past Chair of the Board, Manulife Financial, Deborah Gillis, COO, Catalyst Inc., and Bill Downe, President & CEO, BMO Financial Group, discuss the merits of increasing the representation of women on corporate boards.

Panellists will discuss:

--  The business case for women in leadership and how a higher
    representation of women on boards improves the bottom line;

--  How organizations can benefit from having a higher representation of
    women, and how the added skills and perspectives produce positive
    business results;

--  Ways to address inequalities, for example with the Catalyst Accord, a
    call to action for Canadian businesses to increase the overall
    proportion of board seats held by women in Canada to 25% by 2017.


Who:      Gail Cook-Bennett, Past Chair of the Board, Manulife Financial
          Bill Downe, President & CEO, BMO Financial Group
          Deborah Gillis, COO, Catalyst Inc.

When:     Wednesday May 15, 2013
          8:00 a.m. Panel discussion
          Media availability to follow

Where:    Toronto Region Board of Trade Downtown Centre, 4th floor
          1 First Canadian Place (use 77 Adelaide St. W. entrance)

Contacts:
For News Media Enquiries:
Toronto Region Board of Trade
Matthew Kofsky
416-862-4558

[e-mail]

BMO Financial Group
Ralph Marranca
[phone]
[e-mail]

Catalyst
Negin Neghabat-Wolthoff
[phone]
[e-mail]