BMO Capital Markets, the investment and corporate banking arm of BMO Financial Group (TSX:BMO), announced on Thursday that it has hired five senior professionals in key areas of its U.S. business.

The appointments reflect BMO Capital Markets’ continued expansion worldwide. It has added more than 450 new employees since last year, including 112 in the United States.

Alexander (Sandy) Ayer, based in New York, has been appointed a managing director in the M&A group. Ayer has more than 16 years of deal experience, as well as extensive strategic advisory experience from both JP Morgan and Bear Stearns. He served as a senior member of JP Morgan’s Global M&A group with a focus on the industrial sector. He was also one of the two senior partners responsible for the transportation, logistics and automotive group at Bear Stearns.

Noam Cohen has been appointed managing director in the food, consumer and retail group in New York, where he will spearhead the firm’s non-food retailing business. Cohen has more than 23 years of investment banking experience, 18 of them focused on the retail industry. Most recently, he was managing director at Berenson & Company and head of its retail industry coverage efforts.

Also joining BMO Capital Markets is Les Gorman, as managing director and senior client coverage officer, in New York. Gorman previously spent 12 years at Lehman Brothers, where he was a managing director in the investment banking division, focusing on clients in the global media, business services and telecommunications sectors.

Paul Griffin has been appointed managing director in BMO Capital Markets’ business services and media unit in Boston, where he will lead the firm’s U.S. software investment banking efforts. Griffin has more than 15 years of investment banking experience, including as managing director and head of software investment banking at Cowen and Company.

Lastly, David Parrot is joining BMO Capital Markets as a managing director in the healthcare team, based in San Francisco. Parrot has 20 years of investment banking and extensive lead transaction experience. He was most recently a managing director and head of healthcare banking at Montgomery & Co.

“These new professionals have the sector knowledge, extensive client relationships and transaction experience to provide our clients best-in-class capabilities,” said Perry Hoffmeister, head of U.S. investment and corporate banking at BMO Capital Markets. “They reinforce our expertise in some of the key industry sectors where we are focused.”

IE