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Head, People · Performance · Culture
Adaobi Sandra Okoye

Adaobi Okoye

A business & people leader with nearly a decade of experience driving organizational growth through people, performance, culture and operational excellence — across nonprofit, pension, financial services, power and retail.

MBA, HR Management ACIPM Lagos, Nigeria
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People Strategy Performance Management Culture Transformation Talent & Succession Learning & Development  People Strategy Performance Management Culture Transformation Talent & Succession Learning & Development 
Executive summary

A strategic people leader.

Adaobi Sandra Okoye is a trusted strategic partner to Executive Directors, C-suite leaders and regulators — with a proven record of designing people strategies, performance management frameworks and organizational development initiatives that scale institutions and strengthen leadership pipelines.

Her expertise spans the full HR value chain: talent acquisition, learning and development, employee relations, policy formulation, volunteer management, compliance and culture transformation — complemented by hands-on leadership of administration, operations and board-level reporting.

Adaobi Sandra Okoye
Adaobi Sandra OkoyeMBA, ACIPM · Lagos, Nigeria
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Years of experience
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Pension operators influenced
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New hires onboarded
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Rise in learning uptake
Core competencies

Leadership expertise

01

Strategic HR & OD

Designing people strategies and organizational development initiatives fully aligned with mission and business objectives to scale.

02

Performance & Culture

Building performance frameworks and high-performance, inclusive cultures that lift engagement, satisfaction and retention.

03

Talent & Succession

Talent acquisition, retention and succession planning that build strong leadership pipelines and attract mission-aligned people.

04

Learning & Development

Capacity building, leadership coaching and mentorship — from academies to executive development programs across borders.

05

Governance & Compliance

Policy development, corporate governance, board-level reporting and compliance across labour, safeguarding and data protection.

06

Operations & Analytics

Administrative and operational leadership, budgeting and vendor management, powered by HR analytics and data-driven decisions.

Career journey

Professional experience

2026 — Now
Head, People, Performance & Culture
Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) · Member of JA Worldwide
Strategic partner to the Executive Director, leading a multidisciplinary team across HR/administration, IT support and volunteer coordination.
  • Develop and execute a people strategy aligned with JAN's mission to scale.
  • Lead performance management and succession end-to-end; coach managers to build leadership capacity.
  • Champion a high-performance, inclusive culture anchored on JAN's PRIDE values.
  • Drive an organization-wide volunteer engagement strategy and board-level KPI reporting.
2023 — 2026
Head, Human Resources
Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp)
Led the full HR function and industry-wide people initiatives, influencing 28 operators across PFA, PFC and CPFA categories.
  • Designed the Induction Academy, onboarding 52 new hires and standardizing practice industry-wide.
  • Spearheaded WOPEN (Women in Pensions Network) for gender diversity and leadership mentoring.
  • Led the industry remuneration survey adopted as a compensation benchmark across operators.
  • Grew participation in learning initiatives by 40% and championed HRIS implementation.
2018 — 2023
Talent Management (L&D · Acquisition · Employee Relations)
Ikeja Electric Plc
Progressed across the talent function — from Employee Relations to Talent Acquisition to L&D Specialist.
  • Established the Data & Analytics School, training 100+ employees in data-driven decision-making.
  • Designed the HR Academy (upskilling 30 HR professionals) and the Debt Management School.
  • Built talent pipelines for critical roles and managed end-to-end recruitment and assessments.
  • Supported the Xceed365 HRIS rollout, digitizing records and automating staff confirmation.
2017 — 2018
HR Support Officer
MINISO Lifestyle Nigeria Ltd · International Retail
Supported recruitment, onboarding, payroll and policy deployment; prepared offer letters and confirmations while maintaining accurate employee records.
2016 — 2017
HR & Admin Officer
Ministry of Finance, Enugu State
Handled recruitment and selection, secretariat administration, records management and meeting documentation.
Signature initiatives

Impact & portfolio

Onboarding · PenOp

The Induction Academy

Designed and launched an industry-wide induction program, onboarding new hires across operators and standardizing professional practice.

52 hires onboarded
DEI & Leadership · PenOp

WOPEN — Women in Pensions Network

Spearheaded a network advancing gender diversity, leadership mentoring and professional development for women across the pension industry.

Industry-wide
Capability · Ikeja Electric

Data & Analytics School

Established an in-house school embedding data-driven decision-making into everyday business processes across the organization.

100+ trained
Education Platform · PenOp

PenOpedia

Introduced a public pension education platform and championed HRIS implementation for data-driven, compliant operations sector-wide.

+40% learning uptake
Curriculum vitae

The full picture.

Core competencies built over nearly a decade of HR and people leadership. Download the complete CV for detailed roles, achievements and certifications.

Get in touch
MBA, Human Resources ManagementABU Zaria · 2021
B.Sc. EconomicsAnambra State Univ. · 2015
Strategic Thinking for HR ProfessionalsLagos Business School · 2023
Associate Member (ACIPM)CIPM Nigeria · 2020
Strategic HR & Org Development95%
Performance Management & Culture93%
Talent Acquisition & Succession90%
Learning & Development92%
Policy, Governance & Compliance88%
HR Analytics & Operations86%
Let's talk

Open to senior People, Performance & Culture leadership roles, HR advisory and speaking. Let's build institutions where people and performance thrive.