Voice of Experience: Dr. Sherry Cooper, Executive Vice-President and Global Economic Strategist of BMO Financial Group and Chief Economist of BMO Capital Markets

By Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

Dr. Sherry Cooper, Executive Vice-President and Global Economic Strategist of BMO Financial Group, was destined for the world of finance. An entrepreneur from an early age, Dr. Cooper said, “When I was 12, I spent the summer babysitting. But I didn’t just watch one child. I would gather all the children from up and down the street and take them into my backyard and watch them. At $50 per child, I made quite a bit of money that summer.” One of her role models was her great aunt, who was a “hotshot in mortgage finance” long before it was even a possibility for most women.

But despite the early attraction to finance, it took some time before she embraced it as a career path. Dr. Cooper marveled, “I always assumed that I would just get married and be a homemaker. Until I got to Goucher College, it never occurred to me that I would have a career for the rest of my life.”

She graduated first in her class with a dual degree in economics and math, and then continued on to the University of Pittsburgh for a Ph.D. in economics. Although Dr. Cooper wasn’t interested in academia, she still didn’t see any future in a financial institution. “I grew up in a time when there were very few women in banking or finance so it never occurred to me as a possibility.”

A Blessing in Disguise

So she went a different route. Said Dr. Cooper: “When I finished my degree, my then-husband was teaching at Miami University in Ohio. I applied there, and although I had a great dissertation—I had won a prize for it—they openly discriminated against me, assigning me an instructorship at a remote campus. It absolutely cemented my decision that I didn’t want a career in academia. Although it was traumatic at the time, it was a blessing in disguise.”

Dr. Cooper saw the opportunity to try something else and seized it. “I wanted to do something in the real world and applied for a research position at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. in the capital markets section.” After six years, she said, “I was really itching not just to research markets, but actually be there.”

She first went to work at Fannie Mae as Director of Financial Markets. Then, in 1983, she moved up to Toronto for an opportunity with Burns Fry Ltd. One year later, she was offered a role she couldn’t turn down—Chief Economist at securities dealer Burns Fry. “I was the first woman director on Bay Street. I was often the only woman in the room.”

It took some getting used to according to Dr. Cooper, “When I first entered the private sector, everything surprised me. I worked directly on the trading floor. Those were the days when there were pictures of naked women pinned to the walls and when traders came back from lunch drunk. I just felt I’d been thrown into a men’s locker room.”

“Nothing Replaces Doing a Fantastic Job”

In 1994, Nesbitt Thomson, a subsidiary of the Bank of Montreal, merged with Burns Fry Ltd. and Dr. Cooper became the Chief Economist of the new entity Nesbitt Burns. In 2006, the two chief economist roles for the Bank of Montreal and Nesbitt Burns were merged, and Dr. Cooper’s took on the position, one she still holds.

Dr. Cooper is definitely making her mark, both in the Bank and in the field in general. She’s written three books—including her most recent book entitled The New Retirement: How It Will Change Our Future—all while juggling the ever-increasing demands of her work. On top of all that, she is a highly sought after public speaker, traveling around the world to share her thoughts on the economic issues of the day.

She plans to keep on going, adding that she “doesn’t expect to ever be completely retired.” If she ever leaves the Bank, she sees herself spending more time doing more of what she is already doing—speaking and writing—as well as more charity work.

And while she’s happy with where she’s ended up, she said, “If I could do it all again, I would be a lot less reactive. I would count to ten a lot more. I wouldn’t take things so personally. And I would try to not be so impatient. There is a tendency to expect to get promoted on a more regular basis than actually happens.”

She continued, “It is also important to remember that even the worst situation is temporary. For example, when I first arrived at Burns Fry, the guy I reported to wished I was dead. You just have to grin and bear it and remember that this, too, shall pass.”

Dr. Cooper believes that women “need to have all the credentials they can get because they need to arm themselves with legitimacy. It makes the men take you more seriously. The best advice I ever got was to finish my degree. The only reason I have been able to do what I’ve done is because of my Ph.D.” She added, “You also really have to put in the effort and constantly learn because the moment you are out of school you run the risk of becoming obsolete. “

Finally, Dr. Cooper advised women looking to rise in the industry: “Don’t wear your heart on your sleeve. And don’t forget that nothing replaces doing a fantastic job.”

Dr. Cooper recently sat on the panel for the inaugural Financial Women’s Association Economic Forum. The FWA’s Economic Forum II: The American Worker will be held on Monday, February 22, 2010 at Deutsche Bank Headquarters at 60 Wall Street in Manhattan. Registration is now open. Click here to find out more.