Chief Compliance Officer and Company Secretary
An experienced lawyer with 29 years of experience at the Nigerian Bar and a specialist in Corporate Law, Compliance, Corporate Governance and Risk Management, Ayotola has spent most of her legal career working across various jurisdictions including the United Kingdom, Bermuda and Nigeria.
She started her career with Chief Rotimi Williams Chambers. Prior to joining Oando, she also worked as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Capital G Limited, a financial services Group based in Bermuda. She has worked with other notable companies including Akzo Nobel Plc and PricewaterhouseCoopers in the United Kingdom. She was formerly Senior Corporate, Risk & Control Manager at Citigroup in Bermuda from January 2007 to August 2008 and Legal Counsel & Assistant Company Secretary of Sara Lee UK Holdings Limited (formerly PLC) from 2002 to 2007, where she managed cross border corporate transactions, acquisitions and restructurings across several jurisdictions.
She was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1992 and in 2004, obtained an M.Sc. in Corporate & Ethics from the University of London. She is a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. Ayotola has gained several certifications in the field of Ethics and Compliance including being a Certified Anti-money Laundering Specialist (ACAMS) and a Certified Ethics Officer (The Ethics Institute SA).
Ayotola has a passion for anti-corruption compliance and corporate governance. She was co-chair of the 10th Principle Working Group of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), New York and is a Board member of the United Nations Global Compact Network Nigeria. She is a member of the Institute of Directors (Nigeria) Committee on Independent Directors, Chairs the Corporate Governance and Compliance Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, Section on Business Law and is a member of Council and Head of the External Relations Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association Women Forum. She also heads the Equality in Law focal group of the Nigerian Economic Summit Groups’ Community of Practice on Gender. Ayotola serves as a Trustee of several NGO’s
Ayotola speaks and lectures regularly on anti-corruption and corporate governance at local and international conferences and institutions.