Olaperi “Peri” Onipede, MBA

In 2022, Peri launched Partners in Philanthropy LLC, a philanthropic and governance advisory firm that provides services to organizations in the climate, environment, and sustainability ecosystems. 

She began her professional life as a banker, working as a small business lender within the State Street Bank & Trust branch network. This was followed by a 15-year stint at New England’s then-largest bank, the First National Bank of Boston. Upon completing the highly competitive Loan Officer Development Program, the Bank of Boston provided Peri with multiple opportunities to conduct business globally.

While at the Bank of Boston, she participated in various assignments in both domestic and international markets, traveling extensively through sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, Turkey, Europe, and Latin America, negotiating and closing corporate transactions. Promoted to Vice President.

• International banking – Middle East/Africa; various assignments in both domestic and global markets.
• Foreign Multinational – provided debt financing to a foreign private equity firm.
• US Multinational – provided customized banking services globally to a select portfolio of Top 100 US companies.
• Loan Officer Development Program – instructor/manager; trained the next generation of bankers by creating a new credit training program focused on professional development; significant teaching and curriculum development.

Five notable syndicated transactions managed during her time at the Bank of Boston include:

• Phillip Morris Companies Inc – $12B Revolving Credit Facility
• Allied Signal, Inc. – $2.4B Revolving Credit Multi-Currency Facility
• Avon Capital Corporation – $726.5M senior financing
• First Brands Corporation – $170M Revolving Credit, $25M Term Loan & $35M Bridge Loan
• Trigas Industrial Gases – $61M senior debt financing

During her career at Shawmut Bank, she was the Director and Team Leader of the High-Technology Lending Group. With a team of experienced bankers, she built and managed a specialty lending portfolio above $1 billion, covering targeted companies from New England to California.

As President and Relationship Manager at Fleet Bank, she originated and structured corporate lending and corporate finance transactions for a wide range of public and private technology companies, growing a profitable portfolio in excess of $200 million in risk assets.

ACADEMIC & OTHER FUNDRAISING:

Peri is skilled at relationship management and managing expectations and donors’ emotional needs; she provided strategic advice for transformational fundraising. She spent two decades securing philanthropic resources for priority needs at four large, complex research universities in Boston, focusing on building meaningful relationships with stakeholders, specifically at:

Harvard University Interfaculty Initiatives (2001-2003)

Boston University College of General Studies (2004-2011)

Northeastern University College of Social Sciences and Humanities (2011-2016)

Greater Boston Food Bank (2017-2018)

Brandeis University (2019-2021)

BOARD SERVICE

Peri served eighteen years on the Board of Trustees of her alma mater, Bentley University, and is now a Trustee Emerita. Additionally, she served twelve years on the Board of Advisors of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, where she is now an honorary lifetime advisor. Her other governance experience with Boston’s arts and cultural organizations includes Boston Ballet, Huntington Theatre, Institute for Contemporary Art, and WGBH.

Peri graduated with a BS in Computer Information Systems from Bentley University and subsequently received an MBA from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.