SANDIE OKORO IS SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL at the Washington, D.C.-based World Bank Group.

Okoro studied law and politics at the University of Birmingham, from which she received an LL.B., then studied at the Inns of Court School of Law, now part of City University of London, and joined Lincoln’s Inn, qualifying as a barrister. She then re-qualified and trained as a solicitor. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, she was GC of HSBC Global Asset Management and deputy GC of HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management since 2014, prior to which she was global GC at Barings, an investment services company. In July 2014, she was awarded an honorary doctorate in law by City University London. This past July, she was made an Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple in the United Kingdom. “I have a passion for development,” Okoro says. “I always wanted to do something that makes the world a better place. I kind of did some of that in my spare time, but the fact that I can now do something that I love as my day job and get paid for it is extraordinary.” The World Bank is a specialized agency of the United Nations, a multilateral development bank and an international financial institution. It provides low-interest loans, zero to low-interest credits, and grants to developing countries. It focuses on eradicating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. “The Legal Vice Presidency Unit serves as the [World] Bank’s corporate counsel, providing independent legal advice on all legal issues ranging from issues arising out of our policies, operations and financial transactions, to the creation of new concessional financing facilities—for refugees, climate finance or pandemics—the fight against fraud and corruption, or personnel issues. As GC, I am spokesperson for the [World] Bank on all legal matters,” she says. “I also provide legal advice to our governing board and its members, which represent our shareholders.”