DENVER and SAN FRANCISCO, July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BMO Capital Markets, the investment and corporate banking arm of BMO Financial Group (NYSE, TSX: BMO), has hired Alan Laws as a Senior Equity Analyst to the firm's North American Energy group and Ambrish Srivastava, PhD., as a Senior Equity Analyst to the firm's Technology team. Based in Denver, Mr. Laws will focus on covering large cap oil services and drilling companies. Phillip Jungwirth has also been hired as an equity analyst to assume coverage of U.S. exploration and production companies. Dr. Srivastava will cover companies in the semiconductor industry and will be based in San Francisco. Dr. Srivastava returns to BMO Capital Markets from Criterion Capital Management, where he was a senior analyst, investing in technology companies across multiple sectors in hardware, since 2007. "The addition of Alan, Phillip and Ambrish highlight our commitment to providing a steady flow of the best investment ideas in the Energy and Technology sectors for North American investors," said Paul Campbell, Co-Head of Equity Research, BMO Capital Markets. "Alan's coverage will be a strong complement to our existing coverage of Canadian oil services and drilling stocks along with mid-cap and niche-oriented U.S. oil services and drilling companies, and will bring the size of our North American energy research group team to nine analysts," he added. "Ambrish's experience with the semiconductor industry and his insights as an analyst will greatly serve the highly focused approach we pursue in technology research," said Jack Blackstock, Co-Head of Equity Research, BMO Capital Markets. Alan Laws Mr. Laws has 10 years of experience as an equity research analyst. Most recently he was a Senior Research Analyst at Merrill Lynch in Denver where he focused on the oil services and drilling industry. Mr. Laws has ranked in both the Brendan Wood International and Institutional Investor surveys, independent evaluations tracking high-quality research coverage. Mr. Laws earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Alberta and a Master of Economics from the University of Calgary and is a CFA Charterholder. Dr. Ambrish Srivastava Prior to Criterion Capital Management, Dr. Srivastava was the semiconductor analyst for BMO Capital Markets and predecessor firm Gerard Klauer Mattison, as well as ABN AMRO. Previously, Dr. Srivastava worked for management consulting firm Pittiglio Rabin Todd McGrath, where he led a number of projects for large technology companies. Dr. Srivastava earned his PhD. in Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, his MBA from Cornell University's Johnson School of Management., and his Bachelor of Technology from Institute of Technology, BHU, in India. Philip Jungwirth Joining BMO Capital Markets from Merrill Lynch, Mr. Jungwirth has over three years experience in equity research including the past year covering Oil Services with Mr. Laws. He has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from California Polytechnic State University and is a CPA and CFA Charterholder. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Jungwirth served as a Senior Auditor and Senior Associate in Transaction Services with major public accounting firms. About the BMO Capital Markets Equity Research Group With more than 70 research analysts, the BMO Capital Markets Equity Research Group now covers more than 900 companies in industries that include Energy, Business Professional Services; Capital Goods, Financials; Food Consumer; Healthcare; Media Entertainment; Metals Mining; and Technology Telecommunications. A complete list of the firm's U.S. and Canadian equity analyst team and coverage universe can be viewed at: http://www.bmocm.com/research/equities. About BMO Capital Markets BMO Capital Markets is a leading full-service North American financial services provider, with over 2,400 employees operating in 14 North American offices and 26 worldwide, offering corporate, institutional and government clients access to a complete range of investment and corporate banking products and services. BMO Capital Markets is a member of BMO Financial Group (NYSE, TSX: BMO), one of the largest diversified financial services providers in North America with US$362 billion total assets (Cdn $432 billion) and 37,000 employees as at April 30, 2009. DATASOURCE: BMO Capital Markets CONTACT: Kim Hanson, , (416) 867-3996; Kevin Windorf, , (212) 885-4111; Internet: http://www.bmocm.com/

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