Breaking: Trump appoints Nigerian Ogunlesi member of his economic team

United States President-elect, Donald Trump, has tapped a Nigerian investment banker, Bayo Ogunlesi, to serve as a strategist on his economic policy team.

The 16-member group will be led by Stephen Schwarzman of the American equity firm, Blackstone, CNN reported on Friday.

Mr. Ogunlesi, a private equity tycoon, will serve as a member of the board, which also included CEOs of General Motors and IBM.

The group will have a direct line to Mr. Trump and be tasked with giving the president-elect nonpartisan views on how government policy impacts the economy and jobs, the cable television said, quoting documents sourced from Blackstone.

Mr. Ogunlesi, 63, is the co-founder and chairman of Global Infrastructure Partners, an investment firm with a primary interest in infrastructure and real estate development.

He is perhaps best known for his 2010 acquisition of Gatwick International Airport in London, a deal that was said to be north of $2 billion at the time.

The forum is expected to hold its first meeting during the first week of February at the White House.

The members of the forum are:

• Stephen Schwarzman (forum chairman), chairman, CEO, and cofounder of Blackstone
• Paul Atkins, CEO of Patomak Global Partners, former commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission
• Mary Barra, chairwoman and CEO, General Motors
• Toby Cosgrove, CEO, Cleveland Clinic
• Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
• Larry Fink, chairman and CEO, BlackRock
• Bob Iger, chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company
• Rich Lesser, president and CEO, Boston Consulting Group
• Doug McMillon, president and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
• Jim McNerney, former chairman, president, and CEO of Boeing
• Adebayo “Bayo” Ogunlesi, chairman and managing partner, Global Infrastructure Partners
• Ginni Rometty, chairwoman, president, and CEO of IBM
• Kevin Warsh, Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in economics at the Hoover Institute, former member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
• Mark Weinberger, global chairman and CEO, EY
• Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO, General Electric
• Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize winner, vice chairman of IHS Markit

Mr. Ogunlesi is the first Nigerian to be appointed by Mr. Trump as he continues to shop for top advisers following his victory last month.

His appointment came a year after President Barack Obama named Adewale Adeyemo as his Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics.