By Stanley Ugagbe
Kikelomo “Kike” Lawal has joined the growing list of Nigerians breaking grounds overseas as the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has recruited her to be its Chief Legal Officer.
The Nigerian Canadian News gathered that Lawal will resume duty October 12 at the Toronto-based banking and financial services giant. She spent nearly the past 13 years at the Canadian Interbank network Interac Corp., where she held a variety of in-house roles, including serving since 2015 as its legal chief, corporate secretary, and ombudsman.
In a statement made available to newsmen, CIBC president and CEO, Victor Dogig said “Kike is a proven leader and she will play a key role as we continue to build a relation-oriented bank for a modern world”.
It would be recalled that recently, Dogig led a push by Canada’s fifth largest lender to fill at least 3.5% of its senior executive and board positions in Canada with Black leaders by 2025.
In a statement announcing Lawal’s appointment, CIBC noted that she speaks “regularly on the importance of inclusion and cross multiple dimensions, including gender, race/ethnicity, and life experience”.
The Nigerian born woman, a Harvard Law School graduate will report directly to Dogig once she resumes duty.
According to a recent analysis by Bloomberg News, while more than half of Toronto’s population is foreign-born, only a small percentage of top executive and board positions at Canada’s largest banks reflect the diversity of the country’s financial capital.
