Darryl White

Darryl White grew up in Montreal as the eldest of two siblings in a close-knit family. His father was a manager at an industrial supply business, and his mother was a teacher. His father spent more than four decades at the same company, starting on the order desk and retiring as its General Manager, while his mother inspired countless students of all ages to thrive, including helping adults find their voices in a new language. Together, they instilled in their children the values of hard work, loyalty, humility, and ambition – the values that would shape Darryl’s personal and professional path.

Darryl’s upbringing was rooted in what he describes as a traditional middle-class household, but it was also distinctive in its environment. While raised in an Anglophone family, he attended a francophone school and built his friendships in both languages. This immersion in bilingual and multicultural settings gave him an early appreciation for inclusion and diversity, long before those words became part of today’s common vocabulary. Looking back, Darryl credits this environment with shaping his worldview and preparing him to lead in complex, global contexts later in life.

As a child and teenager, Darryl maintained a careful equilibrium between family, school, work, sports, and friendships. This sense of balance has since become a guiding principle in both his life, as well as career. Hard work was a value evident very early. He held many part-time jobs, including mowing lawns and tending gardens on his street, delivering flyers throughout the neighborhood, working in a warehouse, and eventually working as an orderly at the Montreal General Hospital. He recalls that his role at Montreal General was formative, exposing him to demanding and often emotional situations. It taught him the importance of staying calm under pressure, working effectively as part of a team, and demonstrating compassion. This experience was an early lesson in the weight of responsibility and the meaningful impact of service.

Education was another defining milestone. As the first in his family to attend university, Darryl understood the significance of higher learning not just for himself, but for what it represented to his family. A mentor’s advice to “get your education, because it’s the only thing that can never be taken away from you” stayed with him. He enrolled in business school at Western University, in what is now known as the Ivey School of Business. There, he discovered a fascination with a range of topics such as finance, client service, marketing, organizational design, and behaviour.

CAREER

One day, someone suggested he consider investment banking. Darryl took the advice, and in the early years of his career he found a professional home at BMO. Investment banking gave him the chance to bring together several of the areas he had been curious about –finance, client relationships, strategy, and organizational leadership – into one dynamic role. He felt fortunate to have found a career that matched his varied interests. What began as an experiment turned into a lifelong commitment.

More than three decades later, his loyalty to BMO mirrors his father’s devotion to his company, but Darryl insists it has always been about people and culture. From the beginning, he felt he was surrounded by colleagues and leaders who shared his values, and together they created an environment where he wanted to stay. As he ascended into more senior leadership roles, he felt a responsibility to uphold that culture and to show that high performance and a strong organizational culture are not at odds, but rather mutually reinforcing. This belief has shaped his leadership philosophy: great organizations strive for both excellence and humanity, and the most effective leaders find ways to embody and deliver both.

Team building has been central to that philosophy. Darryl believes that the most important decisions leaders make are about how to construct teams. When teams work together with shared purpose, he says, their collective strength exceeds anything an individual could achieve alone. It is not always easy to build these teams, but when it works, the results are extraordinary.

Of course, leadership also involves making tough decisions. Darryl recognizes that, as a CEO, such decisions are fewer than many might assume, but when they do arise, he is committed to surrounding himself with the best people and embracing the broadest range of advice and perspectives. He ensures that subject matter experts, even those several levels removed, have a voice in the process. Additionally, he insists that decisions be thoroughly stress-tested through challenging viewpoints, alternative scenarios, and careful consideration of potential risks. According to him, this is the only way to make decisions with both confidence and integrity.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED

Through it all, Darryl has remained mindful of the challenges facing young people today. Having lived through COVID-19 and ongoing social upheavals, many are anxious about their futures. To them, his advice is simple but meaningful: work hard, stay loyal, share success with your teammates, and remember to breathe. Life rarely follows a straight path, and only in hindsight does one realize how the pieces come together. With humility, ambition, and dedication, he believes that nearly anything is possible.

This is the message he carries into his work with the Horatio Alger Association, where he finds inspiration in the scholars who, despite difficult beginnings, have charted paths of resilience and achievement. To them, and to all young people, he offers the reminder that the sky is the limit. Balancing humility with ambition, and recognizing the potential within themselves, they can aspire to any role, including those held by the Association’s Members.