Adaora Ugwu is a public finance and governance expert with over 18 years’ experience in both the public and private sectors where she worked in wealth management, treasury, risk, finance, corporate governance and public policy.

She leads the Treasury team at the Petroleum Equalisation Fund Management Board, an agency under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. In addition to providing strategic policy advice to the Board on financial regulation and governance related issues, her experience has seen her lead the implementation of significant public sector reforms, focused on using technology to strengthen public finance and accounting systems and improving transparency. She has been nominated to advise on high-level Government policy review committees, including the Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Governance Bill and the Nigeria Gas Policy. While in the private sector, she built and managed an impressive portfolio of HNIs, Multilateral Agencies, and ingenious firms, providing private banking, wealth management and financial advisory services.

Adaora has an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she received the Eric Yankah Award for distinguished contribution to the Mason Fellows Program and the Harvard Kennedy School. She also has a M.Sc. in Analysis and Design of Management Information Systems from the London School of Economics.

She is an AILA Fellow with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington D.C.; a Fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (FCCA), UK and a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). She serves on the Advisory Board of the Women Leadership Institute and remains an advocate for advancing women’s financial inclusion, political participation and educating the girl child.