Julie O’Connor

Julie O’Connor is General Counsel for U.S. Commercial and Wealth, overseeing legal affairs for CIBC Bank USA, Private Wealth entities and the non-bank real estate lender, CIBC Inc. O’Connor also serves as the Corporate Secretary and Head of Regulatory Affairs for the U.S. Region. O’Connor is on the CIBC U.S. Region Executive Committee and is a member of the Global Leadership team.

O’Connor joined CIBC through the 2017 acquisition of The PrivateBank. Previously, she was Deputy General Counsel, Assistant Corporate Secretary and Head of Regulatory Affairs at The PrivateBank. Prior to joining The PrivateBank in 2008, O’Connor served as Associate General Counsel for Bank of America, leading a team of attorneys supporting the Commercial Bank. Ahead of Bank of America’s acquisition of LaSalle Bank, O’Connor worked for LaSalle Bank’s parent company, ABN AMRO North America, Inc., where she served as Associate General Counsel for 14 years. In this capacity, O’Connor led a team of more than 30 attorneys, paralegals and support staff that supported commercial and retail banking activities of ABN AMRO and LaSalle Bank, including trade services, treasury management and vendor risk management.

Before joining ABN AMRO and LaSalle Bank, she worked with the Chicago law firm of Chapman and Cutler, providing support to banks on commercial transactions and banking and regulatory matters.

O’Connor earned her bachelor of science in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Business, and holds a CPA certificate. She also earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois.

She is a mentor and volunteer with Chicago Scholars and former President of the School Board of Western Springs District 101.