Tag Archives: Bayo Ogunlesi

Trump formally unveils Ogunlesi as Strategic and Policy Forum adviser

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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump yesterday formally unveiled Nigerian-born, U.S.-based Bayo Ogunlesi as a member of his Strategic and Policy Forum charged with advising the president on economic matters.

According to AFP, Trump’s Transition Team, in a statement yesterday, said the president-elect also announced three additional members to join the forum.

“Earlier this month, President-elect Trump established the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum and announced an initial round of 16 members.

“The Forum is composed of some of America’s most highly respected and successful business leaders.

“They will be called upon to meet with the president frequently to share their specific experience and knowledge as the president implements his economic agenda.

“The Forum will be chaired by Stephen A. Schwarzman, the Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of Blackstone.

“America has the most innovative and vibrant companies in the world, and the pioneering CEOs joining this Forum today are at the top of their fields,” the Trump team said.

According to Trump, “My administration is going to work together with the private sector to improve the business climate and make it attractive for firms to create new jobs across the United States from Silicon Valley to the heartland.”

Members of the Forum will provide their individual views to the president, informed by their unique vantage points in the private sector on how government policy impacts economic growth, job creation and productivity.

The Forum is designed to provide direct input to the president from many of the best and brightest in the business world in a frank, non-bureaucratic and non-partisan manner.

With yesterday’s announcement of three additional members, the individuals on the Forum now include: Adebayo “Bayo” Ogunlesi, Chairman and Managing Partner, Global Infrastructure Partners.

The others are Stephen A. Schwarzman (Forum Chairman), Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of Blackstone; Paul Atkins, CEO, Patomak Global Partners, LLC, former Commissioner for the Securities and Exchange Commission; and Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO, General Motors.

Toby Cosgrove, CEO, Cleveland Clinic; Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co; Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO, BlackRock; Travis Kalanick, CEO and Co-founder, Uber Technologies.

Also in the Forum are Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company; Rich Lesser, President and CEO, Boston Consulting Group; Doug McMillon, President and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.; Jim McNerney, former Chairman, President, and CEO, Boeing; Elon Musk, Chairman and CEO, SpaceX and Tesla; and Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo.

The list also includes Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President, and CEO, IBM; Kevin Warsh, Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics, Hoover Institute, and former Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; and Mark Weinberger, Global Chairman and CEO, EY; Jack Welch, former Chairman and CEO, General Electric; and Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize-winner, Vice Chairman of IHS Markit.

Through Global Infrastructure Partners, Ogunlesi has a majority stake in London Gatwick Airport. His company acquired the stake at the airport in 2009 in a £1.455 billion deal.

Global Infrastructure Partners is a joint venture whose initial investors included Credit Suisse and General Electric.

Ogunlesi is also an independent director of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. He serves on the boards of Callaway Golf Co. and Kosmos Energy Ltd.

He is the chairman of Africa Finance Corporation, where the Nigerian government holds the majority state, and serves on the boards of various non-profits ranging from New York Presbyterian Hospital to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

Ogunlesi is from Sagamu, Ogun State. His father, Theophilus Ogunlesi, was Nigeria’s first professor of medicine.

He attended Kings College, Lagos, before proceeding to Oxford University, where he graduated with a First Class honours in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

He also graduated from Harvard Law School in 1979 and later got an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Ogunlesi had a banking career with Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) from 1983 and rose to become its executive vice chairman.

During his stint at Credit Suisse, he advised clients on transactions and corporate finance in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Before joining Credit Suisse, Ogunlesi was an attorney in the corporate practice group of the New York law firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

From 1980-81 he served as a law clerk to Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall of the United States Supreme Court.

He was a lecturer at Harvard Law School and the Yale School of Organisation and Management, where he taught a course on transnational investment projects in emerging countries.

Ogunlesi has served as an adviser, though informally, to Nigerian governments. He was an informal adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on privatisation.

Despite having lived in the US for decades, he still maintains ties with his homeland.

Nigerians in U.S. celebrate Trump’s appointment of Bayo Ogunlesi

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The Nigerian community in U.S. has lauded the appointment of Bayo Ogunlesi by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump into his Economic Advisory Team, saying it could signal a positive trend for Africa.

The Nigerians told the Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria in New York, that Mr. Ogunlesi has been an excellent ambassador for Africa and Nigeria in particular.

Michael Adeniyi, former President of a Nigerian U.S.-based group, the Organisation for the Advancement of Nigerians Inc., told NAN that “Bayo Ogunlesi is an excellent and extraordinary Nigerian.

“He is very humble, brilliant and outstanding in every way you can think of.

“He has achieved outstanding success in Wall Street and he’s a proud ambassador of Africa, which he started in Kings College.

“For him to be appointed into Trump’s Economic Advisory Team is a honour to Africa and especially to Nigeria. He will add value to the Trump’s team and he’s worthy of celebrating.

“Prior to his appointment, Bayo Ogunlesi has been a pride of Africa; he reached the pinnacle of his career in Walls Street through his company which he built from the scratch. He is a round peg in a round hole.”

Another Nigerian, Yetunde Odugbesan-Omede, a professor of Global Affairs and Political Science at Rutgers University and Farmingdale State College, said Mr. Ogunlesi has all it takes to contribute to a positive American economic outlook.

“Mr. Ogunlesi has an impressive background and will be able to add his perspective and vast knowledge on how to move America forward that will yield positive economic outcomes.”

Ms. Odugbesan-Omede, however, said it was too early to say if the appointment would have any impact on Nigeria.

“It is too early to determine or come to a conclusion at this moment on whether Mr Ogunlesi’s role will have any impact on Nigeria’s foreign and economic policy.

“I hope that Mr. Ogunlesi will provide guidance on improving both economic and political U.S.-Nigeria relations,” Mr. Odugbesan-Omede said.

The spokesperson for the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the UN, Pastor Akinremi Bolaji, said Ogunlesi’s appointment was a positive development for Nigeria and Africa.

“I am not speaking for the Nigerian diplomatic community because I am not in the position to do so; it for the Embassy in Washington to do.

“Speaking as a Nigerian, it is a good indication and positive development for Africa and Nigeria that we are among the best brains everywhere.

“It is also to show you that one in every five Blacks is a Nigerian. It is a good indication for our economic and foreign policy.

“It also shows that Africa and Nigeria have good ambassadors everywhere. Ogunlesi has to see himself as a representative of the Black race as the only Black man that made the list by further distinguishing himself.

“I advise him to use his opportunity well and he should bring together people of integrity who will not smear his integrity.”

Mr. Bolaji said the younger generation has a lot to learn from his distinction, adding “journalists have a lot to do to tell us how he was able to weather the storm and got recognised worldwide.

“It also shows that the best economic brains are scattered everywhere in Nigeria. We have the Dangotes in the North, Jim Ovias and Tony Elumelus in the East and South-South and Otedola in the West, and now Ogunlesi.

“If we put our house together, we have people all over the world and at home who have all it takes for us to succeed,” Mr. Bolaji said.

Mr. Ogunlesi, who is the chairman of Global Infrastructure Partners, a private equity firm and one of Fortune 500 companies, was named a member of an economic advisory forum to Mr. Trump.

The 63-year-old Nigerian is the only African face in the 16-man team.

“President-elect Donald J. Trump today announced that he is establishing the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum,” said a press release from Blackstone published by Business Insider.

The Forum, which is composed of some of America’s most highly respected and successful business leaders, will be called upon to meet with the president frequently to share their specific experience and knowledge as the president implements his plan to bring back jobs and ‘Make America Great Again’.