Deborah Bongard is a Senior Portfolio Manager and Senior Wealth Advisor at BMO Nesbitt Burns. She leads the Bongard Wealth Advisory Group, guiding more than 200 families through the financial complexity that comes with growth, transition, and wealth across generations. With over 30 years of experience, she has built a practice rooted in clarity, structure, and disciplined execution.
Her focus is on entrepreneurs and business owners navigating liquidity events. An exit can transform a balance sheet overnight, but the personal and financial transitions last far longer. Debbie helps founders move from concentrated risk inside their company to resilient wealth outside it, sequencing decisions so that tax, investment, and family priorities are coordinated rather than fragmented.
She has completed specialized training in Financial Transition Planning through the Financial Transitions Institute, equipping her to guide clients through both the human and technical dimensions of major life changes. Drawing on decades of market experience, she designs investment strategies that emphasize liquidity, discipline, and resilience, ensuring portfolios support flexibility at each stage of transition, from pre-sale planning to life after liquidity.
A fourth-generation leader in Canadian financial services, Debbie has been recognized as a pioneer for women in wealth advisory. Outside her practice, she serves on the board of the West Parry Sound Health Centre Foundation and chairs its Northern Angel Council.