Dr. Walton Ekundayo Gilpin’s story goes considerably beyond his current position as Managing Director and CEO of Rokel Commercial Bank. His academic foundation was laid at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, where he earned a BSc in Economics in 1989. He later earned an MSc in Economic Policy Management from Columbia University in New York in 1997, giving him a combination of local economic grounding and international policy training.
One of the lesser-known chapters of his career was his work with the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, where he served as an Adviser on Debt Management in the Special Advisory Services Division. This was not simply a desk-based position: Commonwealth records identify Gilpin as part of the technical team working on public-debt management, while United Nations and IMF publications list him among experts contributing to international work on debt statistics and public-sector debt management.
His international exposure was extensive. Biographical accounts describe him as having worked on financial initiatives across more than 25 Commonwealth countries, while a more recent profile puts the figure at more than 38 member countries. Whichever figure is used, the important point is that before returning to senior commercial banking in Sierra Leone, Gilpin had gained experience dealing with the financial and debt-management challenges of numerous countries.
His professional résumé also extends well beyond the Commonwealth Secretariat. Gilpin has described working as either a consultant or permanent staff member with institutions including the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, African Development Bank, European Union, UNDP, WAIFEM, MEFMI and the Bank of Sierra Leone. That makes his career unusual: he has operated at the intersection of central banking, international development, public finance, debt management and commercial banking.
That international experience provides a different way of looking at the man now leading Rokel Commercial Bank. The lesser-known fact is not simply that Dr. Walton Gilpin has worked abroad; it is that before becoming a prominent Sierra Leonean commercial banker, he spent years working on the financial systems and debt-management challenges of countries across the Commonwealth and alongside some of the world’s major financial institutions. In 2026, that journey received another international chapter when he was named African Banker of the Year, adding continental recognition to a career that began in Sierra Leone and expanded far beyond its borders.
