Congratulations are in order as Kikelomo “Kike” Lawal has been appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), effective October 12, 2020.
Lawal, with more than 20 years experience as a leader, a trial lawyer and as a transactional lawyer will leave her current role as Chief Legal Officer ombudsman and corporate secretary at Interac Corp where she served for 12 years and led numerous workstreams to establish the organization as a fully integrated share capital corporation during its restructuring in 2018, canadian lawyer mag reports.
Kikelomo Lawal is a long-standing member of the executive committee at Interac and was part of the brain trust at the helm for the history restructuring of Interac Association and Acxsys Corporation, newsroom. She was also named one of The 25 Most Influential Women in Payments interac.caeport
Kikelomo was also a senior associate of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP for five years and 9 months.
With a JD from Harvard Law School and with a BA from New York University, Lawal has passionately worked towards inclusion and diversity giving talks at different opportunities.
Licensed to practice law in Toronto and in New York, U.S., Lawal has served as a senior associate at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP and as an associate at Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, the site reports.
“Ms. Lawal will be accountable for overseeing the Legal function globally as well as the Corporate Secretary, Ombudsman and Privacy Office functions, and related policies and programs.
“She will join the bank’s Executive Committee and will report to Victor Dodig, President and CEO of CIBC,” a statement on her new role published by Bloomberg read.
Calling Lawal “an accomplished legal professional with strong business acumen who brings a strategic approach to the position”, Victor Dodig, CEO and President CIBC also stated that the bank really looks forward to her leadership in the new capacity. Adding that with Lawal’s help, the bank intends to continue focusing on strengthening its relationships with its clients in the modern world.
