Banke Odunaike

Banke A. Odunaike serves as global Head of Legal for CBRE’s Global Workplace Solutions business segment, which provides Facilities Management and Project Management services for the world’s largest real estate occupiers across more than 100 countries. Ms. Odunaike manages a global team and partners closely with the business to create efficiencies and drive excellent outcomes.

Prior to this role, she was Chief Culture Officer with responsibility for ethics & compliance, diversity, equity & inclusion, senior leadership talent identification and development, and succession planning.

Ms. Odunaike joined CBRE as Senior Director, EMEA Legal in 2017. She was appointed Head of EMEA Legal in 2020 and her role was further expanded to oversee the APAC region in January 2023.

A champion for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the law, Banke has been recognized as one of the UK’s 21 ‘Women Who Will’ for ‘Driving Innovation in Diversity & Inclusion’ according to the Obelisk Report (in partnership with the Next 100 Years Project).

She established CBRE’s UK Legal DE&I Taskforce – a team who saw CBRE become foundation signatory to the UK Model Diversity Survey in 2021. She is Executive Sponsor of CBRE’s REACH network and sits on the Senior Advisory Board of the Apollo Leadership Institute which brings together general counsel and senior in-house lawyers to collaborate on culture, leadership, and talent; as well as on the creation of meritocratic workplaces. She is also a member of The Eagle Club – a global network of women in senior leadership positions who work proactively to promote equality and the progression of talented women in business.

Ms. Odunaike has over 17 years of corporate-commercial law experience. She is recognized in the legal industry as one of the UK’s most daring, innovative and creative lawyers and has been named in The Lawyer Magazine’s prestigious Hot 100 list. She started her career in Private Practice as a trainee solicitor at Gosschalks. On qualification, she joined Shoosmiths as a Pensions Lawyer and later joined Addleshaw Goddard where she advised Trustee boards and Corporates on pensions strategy and risk mitigation. She moved in-house to Mercer (a Marsh & McLennan Company) in 2012 where she served as EMEA Corporate Counsel (Principal) providing general corporate and commercial advice to Mercer’s regional business before making the move to CBRE in 2017.