Ijeoma Okoli
Ijeoma Okoli
Adjunct Professor, St. John's University School of Law and Director, Digital Economy Initiative
Digital Economy Initiative
Ijeoma is a finance, regulatory and fintech lawyer with extensive experience advising financial services firms and corporate clients globally on capital raisings and general finance and regulatory matters.
Ijeoma is also a strategic advisory consultant on digital assets and artificial intelligence. She provides strategic advice to companies building in the blockchain and artificial intelligence sectors as well as investors looking to invest in these sectors. She has advised companies on capital raisings, restructurings, regulatory gray areas and strategy. She is also a co-Director of the Digital Economy Initiative, an independent think tank focused on US and UK digital assets policy. She previously was Digital Currency Risk Management Lead and an Executive Director at JPMorgan where she co-designed the financial services group’s first-ever global digital currency risk management and governance framework. She also sat on a digital currency select committee which reviewed new digital assets related business proposals and opined on suitability, and legal and other risks for the financial services group. She also previously advised JPMorgan’s Chief Investment Office, Corporate Treasury, Investment Bank and Asset Management division in London on various other matters including investments, capital raisings, restructuring funding lines and regulatory and compliance matters. She has also advised on the structuring and listing of billions of dollars’ worth of equity, debt and hybrid instruments in private transactions and public offerings listed on stock exchanges in the US and Europe.
She has guest lectured on digital assets regulation and policy at institutions including Harvard University, Cornell University and University College, London and is an adjunct professor at St. John’s University School of Law in New York. She was a subject matter expert invited by the UK Financial Conduct Authority to its first ever Crypto Sprint, where it brought in experts to advise the regulator on what its approach to digital assets should look like in the future and has provided input to UK and US authorities on legal and regulatory proposals relating to digital assets.
Ijeoma was listed in the 2020 FTSE Board Report’s 100 Women to Watch list, named Investment Woman of the Year at the 2020 Woman in Investment Awards, won the Outstanding Contribution of the Year Award at the 2021 Women in Finance Awards, was listed as one of PitchBook’s 2022 and 2023 Female Founders and Investors to Know and Innovate Finance’s Women in FinTech Powerlist 2022. She was also featured in the June 2023 edition of The Banker magazine, and The Block’s July 2023 list of 9 Power Players Shaping the UK's Growing Crypto Agenda and was appointed to Cornell University’s President’s Council of Cornell Women in 2024.
Ijeoma holds a B.A. and M.P.A. from New York University and a J.D. from Cornell University.
Ijeoma is also a strategic advisory consultant on digital assets and artificial intelligence. She provides strategic advice to companies building in the blockchain and artificial intelligence sectors as well as investors looking to invest in these sectors. She has advised companies on capital raisings, restructurings, regulatory gray areas and strategy. She is also a co-Director of the Digital Economy Initiative, an independent think tank focused on US and UK digital assets policy. She previously was Digital Currency Risk Management Lead and an Executive Director at JPMorgan where she co-designed the financial services group’s first-ever global digital currency risk management and governance framework. She also sat on a digital currency select committee which reviewed new digital assets related business proposals and opined on suitability, and legal and other risks for the financial services group. She also previously advised JPMorgan’s Chief Investment Office, Corporate Treasury, Investment Bank and Asset Management division in London on various other matters including investments, capital raisings, restructuring funding lines and regulatory and compliance matters. She has also advised on the structuring and listing of billions of dollars’ worth of equity, debt and hybrid instruments in private transactions and public offerings listed on stock exchanges in the US and Europe.
She has guest lectured on digital assets regulation and policy at institutions including Harvard University, Cornell University and University College, London and is an adjunct professor at St. John’s University School of Law in New York. She was a subject matter expert invited by the UK Financial Conduct Authority to its first ever Crypto Sprint, where it brought in experts to advise the regulator on what its approach to digital assets should look like in the future and has provided input to UK and US authorities on legal and regulatory proposals relating to digital assets.
Ijeoma was listed in the 2020 FTSE Board Report’s 100 Women to Watch list, named Investment Woman of the Year at the 2020 Woman in Investment Awards, won the Outstanding Contribution of the Year Award at the 2021 Women in Finance Awards, was listed as one of PitchBook’s 2022 and 2023 Female Founders and Investors to Know and Innovate Finance’s Women in FinTech Powerlist 2022. She was also featured in the June 2023 edition of The Banker magazine, and The Block’s July 2023 list of 9 Power Players Shaping the UK's Growing Crypto Agenda and was appointed to Cornell University’s President’s Council of Cornell Women in 2024.
Ijeoma holds a B.A. and M.P.A. from New York University and a J.D. from Cornell University.