IIT Stuart Announces 2009 Illinois Executive of the Year

Chicago, IL — August 4, 2009 —

Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Stuart School of Business will honor Ellen Costello, President and CEO of Harris Financial Corp., with its second annual Illinois Executive of the Year Award at the Power Construction Power Lunch at 11:30 a.m. Friday, September 11, at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, 9300 Bryn Mawr Ave., Rosemont, IL. The annual award honors one outstanding executive who embodies the constructs of strategic competitiveness that IIT Stuart represents: creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, incisive decision-making, leadership, and sustainability and who, through their leadership and competitive excellence, has made a contribution to Illinois and beyond, serving as an outstanding role model for future leaders.

“The Illinois Executive of the Year Award recognizes an individual who has made a positive impact upon the local community and who serves as an example of a leader who strives for excellence in all aspects of the field of business,” said IIT Stuart School of Business Dean Harvey Kahalas. “Through her continuous dedication to business in the Midwest, and the world, Ellen Costello exemplifies all of the qualities of an Executive of the Year, and serves as a role model for IIT Stuart students and all future business leaders.”

Part of the Toronto-based $461 billion CAD asset BMO Financial Group, one of North America’s leading financial service providers, Harris is a large regional retail, business, and wealth bank serving more than 1.2 million personal and business customers in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin through its network of more than 280 branches. As the President and CEO of Harris Financial Corp., Costello is BMO Financials U.S. Senior Executive and has direct responsibility for the U.S. personal and commercial business. Her mandate is to enhance customer experience and drive profitable business growth organically and through acquisition. A native of Boston, Mass., she has over 31 years of banking experience, the majority with BMO Financial group since 1983. During her tenure at BMO, Costello held a broad range of leadership positions across corporate banking and capital markets in the U.S., Canada, and Asia. She has extensive experience in managing complex, client-focused businesses and leading change initiatives.

Currently, Costello serves on the boards of directors for United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, the Chicago Community Trust, the Chicago Public Education Fund, the Economic Club of Chicago, and the Executives Club of Chicago. She is a member of the Bankers Club of Chicago, the Chicago Network, Chicago 2016, the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and the Financial Services Roundtable. Costello earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from St. Francis Xavier University and holds an MBA from Dalhousie University - both in Canada.

For more information about IIT Stuart’s Illinois Executive of the Year Award, please contact Marie Vanderford at vanderford@stuart.iit.edu. Those interested in attending the IIT Stuart Illinois Executive of the Year Award luncheon can register by visiting www.123signup.com/IEOY.

Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 7,300 students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design, humanities, business and law. IIT's interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and scholarship, to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to prepare students from throughout the world for a life of professional achievement, service to society, and individual fulfillment. Visit www.iit.edu.