Adebayo Ogunlesi, Chairman of Global Infrastructure Partners, London, UK from Nigeria

Adebayo Ogunlesi (born 1953) is a Nigerian businessman. A 1979 graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, he also studied at Oxford.

Ogunlesi was in charge of Global Investment Banking at Credit Suisse First Boston before being promoted to chief client officer and executive vice chairman.

Biography

Adebayo Ogunlesi is currently Chairman and Managing Partner of Global Infrastructure Partners, a $5.64 billion joint venture formed by Credit Suisse and General Electric. Prior to his current role, he was Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Client Officer of Credit Suisse, based in New York. He previously served as a member of Credit Suisse’s Executive Board and Management Council and chaired the Chairman’s Board. Previously, he was the Global Head of Investment Banking at Credit Suisse. Since joining Credit Suisse in 1983, Mr. Ogunlesi has advised clients on strategic transactions and financings in a broad range of industries and has worked on transactions in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. He currently Acquired the London Gatwick Airport in a deal worth £1.455 billion

Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Mr. Ogunlesi was an attorney in the corporate practice group of the New York law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore. From 1980-81 he served as a law clerk to Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall of the United States Supreme Court.

Mr. Ogunlesi attended the prestigious Kings College Lagos, Nigeria after which he received his B.A. with first class honors in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, from Oxford University, his J.D. magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School and his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association. He was a lecturer at Harvard Law School and the Yale School of Organization and Management, where he taught a course on transnational investment projects in emerging countries.