Photo: President-elect Trump picks Nigerian Adebayo Ogunlesi to join his economic advisory team

Sunday, 4 December 2016

U.S President-elect Donald Trump has assembled wealthy corporate and financial executives, including top Nigerian entrepreneur Adebayo Ogunlesi to provide him with economic advice.

Ogunlesi is part of the 16-person group, whose membership was announced Friday, December 2. 

The 63-year-old Nigerian businessman is the Chairman and Managing Partner of Global Infrastructure Management, LLC, which is a private equity firm with more than $35 billion in assets under management and invests worldwide in infrastructure assets in the energy, transport, and water and waste industry sectors.

Mr Ogunlesi’s organisations assets include Gatwick Airport, Edinghburh Airport and City  Airport in London making him the first Nigerian to independently own airports in the West.

Mr. Ogunlesi serves as a member of the board of directors of Goldman Sachs, Kosmos Energy, and Callaway Golf Co. Mr. is the son of T.O Ogunlesi of Makun, Sagamu, Ogun State, the first Nigerian professor of medicine. He attended Kings College, Lagos after which he received his B.A with first class honours in Ogunlesi in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University, a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He is married to an optometrist, Dr. Amelia Quist-Ogunlesi.

Prior to founding Global Infrastructure Management, Mr. Ogunlesi spent 23 years at Credit Suisse where he held senior positions, including Executive Vice Chairman, Chief Client Officer, and Global Head of Investment Banking.
Before joining Credit Suisse, he was an attorney with the New York law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore. From 1980 to 1981, he served as a Law Clerk  to the Honorable Thurgood Marshall, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
The economic advisory forum will be chaired by Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of Blackstone, with the task of helping the president to implement his plan to bring back jobs and "Make America Great Again"

Other members of the forum includes Paul Atkins, CEO, Patomak Global Partners, LLC, Former Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO, General Motors; Toby Cosgrove, CEO, Cleveland Clinic; Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co; and Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO, BlackRock. 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,Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President, and CEO, IBM; Kevin Warsh, Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics, Hoover Institute, Former Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; 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.

"This forum brings together CEOs and business leaders who know what it takes to create jobs and drive economic growth," said President-elect Trump. "My administration is committed to drawing on private sector expertise and cutting the government red tape that is holding back our businesses from hiring, innovating, and expanding right here in America."
The first meeting of the Forum will be held at The White House during the first week of February,2017