The Pepper Companies Appoints New Board Member

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — SEPTEMBER 28, 2021 The Pepper Companies today announced the appointment of Cecily Mistarz to its board of directors effective September 23, 2021.

Cecily recently retired from a 31-year career with BMO Financial Group where she held executive roles spanning risk, strategy, acquisitions, integration, operations, and commercial and private banking. She most recently served as U.S. Chief Risk Officer for BMO Financial Group, a role she held since 2014. In that position she ensured that the organization was effectively identifying and managing risk in all the business and legal entities it operated throughout the United States.

"In addition to Cecily's financial expertise, her ability to see the organization holistically and guide us in the right direction will be a tremendous asset to our board,” says Stan Pepper, CEO of The Pepper Companies, which owns Pepper Construction Group.

Immediately preceding her role as U.S. Risk Officer, Cecily oversaw the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulatory remediation activity underway in the United States, providing the structure, processes and integration necessary to ensure that regulatory issues were successfully resolved and regulator expectations met. Prior to that, Cecily established the U.S. Governance and Program Oversight group after having served as Executive Vice President and Integration Management Office Director, where she was responsible for managing the integration of BMO Harris and M&I. In this role, she was accountable for driving all phases of the integration and systems conversion.

Cecily began her career with BMO in Corporate Banking in 1990, holding a variety of positions in Corporate Banking, Credit Risk and Risk Management. In 1999, she joined the company's Office of Strategic Management, where she worked with the Bank’s lines of business across North America as they developed and refined their strategies. There, she led the team that developed and executed several key strategic acquisitions in the United States. In 2003, she moved into the Private Client Group with responsibility for the development and delivery of Harris Private Bank’s suite of trust, investment and banking services, later transitioning into the role of Executive Vice President, Strategy, Acquisitions and Initiatives for Harris Private Bank.

Cecily earned her Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Bradley University and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago. She serves on the board of directors of the Safer Foundation, which provides employment, educational and supportive services for individuals with criminal records.

Pepper Construction represents some of the most advanced thought leadership in our industry. By integrating their high performance, lean and technological expertise into the company’s operational processes, Pepper is transforming the future. Ranked as one of the top builders of sustainable projects in the nation, Pepper serves clients in a variety of markets such as healthcare, education, commercial interiors, manufacturing and industrial, civic and cultural, data centers, entertainment, hospitality and gaming, among others. Some of the firm's recent and current work includes the Starbuck's Roastery, the BMO Harris Office and Retail Bank, Titletown Flats, the Community Hospital East Campus Redevelopment, Purdue University's Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital, and Rolls-Royce's Reinvestment and Modernization of Manufacturing Operations. For more information, please visit www.pepperconstruction.com.

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