Jamie K. Thorsen, 1977
B.S., Psychology, Denison University
M.B.A., Benedictine University
Executive Managing Director
FX Products and China Capital Markets
Winnetka, Ill.
Citation awarded May, 2008
Denison was Jamie Thorsen’s gateway to the world. With responsibility for a $200 million global foreign exchange (FX) business, Jamie currently oversees a team of nearly 100 professionals in eight cities from Beijing to Chicago while still managing to remain actively involved in her community.
After graduating from Denison, Jamie joined Chicago-based Harris Bank where she quickly displayed a natural aptitude for the fast-pace world of foreign exchange and its focus on client service. Within three years, she was named vice president/national sales manager of the Harris sales desk.
In 1985, when Harris was acquired by Bank of Montreal (BMO), Jamie was given responsibility for all U.S. FX trading, sales and options activity and eventually created a North American FX platform. In 1996, Jamie was promoted to executive managing director, responsible for BMO’s entire global FX operations in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. She is now also responsible for the bank’s capital markets activities in China.
Jamie currently serves on the FX Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank, as well as the Canadian FX Committee of the Bank of Canada. In her capacity for the Fed, she co-chairs the Compliance and Chief Dealer sub-committees.
In Chicago, Jamie is a member of the Founders Board of Children’s Memorial Hospital and is a member of the Board of Directors’ Finance Committee. Jamie has served on the board and finance committee of Cristo Rey Jesuit high school and she and her husband actively support Loyola Academy through a Chinese language program.
Jamie has always made time for Denison. In 2003, she joined the President’s Leadership Council and worked on the Campaign Executive Committee for HIGHER GROUND. In another role that strongly resonated with her passion for Asian and Burmese art, Jamie and her husband were major factors in the evolution of Denison’s art gallery into an accredited museum. She also served as a lecturer for Denison’s Organizational Studies program.
