Mary Boakye

Mary Boakye
Board Member, Development Bank Ghana

Mary Boakye is a highly experienced finance lawyer with over 25 years of experience in international capital markets and investment. She has advised various clients, including corporates, investment funds, financial institutions, and governments across Africa, Europe, Asia, and the United States.

Mary is a dual-qualified solicitor and New York Attorney and has held leadership positions at top global firms in New York, London, South Africa, and Hong Kong. She has worked for Allen & Overy and Dentons, where she was the head of the Africa Financial Markets Group. Mary co-led the team that advised on Ghana’s 2007, 2013, and 2014 sovereign bond issues. She is also the founder and CEO of Oriol Associates.

Mary serves as a board member of The Fore Trust and Dentons’ Board Diversity Committee. She has also served on numerous advisory boards, including the Technical Committee of the World Bank / AfDB All-Africa Conference on Law, Justice, and Development, Business Advisory Board of H.E. Kofi Annan’s Africa Progress Panel, and the China Europe International Business School’s Africa Foundation for Governance and Leadership.

Mary is widely regarded as a leading authority on doing business in Africa. She has been recognized by several organizations, including ‘Powerlist,’ which named her as one of the UK’s 100 most influential blacks, and ‘The Lawyer,’ which included her in the UK’s “Hot 100 Lawyers.” She has also been featured on Cranfield School of Management’s 100 Women to Watch and 50 BAME Women to Watch lists and the Legal Week Class of 2021 as one of the UK’s leading female lawyers.

Mary holds an LLB in Law (Hons) from Brunel University, Solicitors Final Exams from the University Law, Guildford, and Distinctive Leadership in Organizational Leadership from Leadership College, London.

Mary Boakye is ranked in Avance Media’s Inaugural list of Top 100 Ghana’s Women Board Directors collated in partnership with Acreaty Ghana.