Scott Palmer, CFA, is an experienced operational due diligence specialist and Affiliate Partner of ORC. With over 30 years of cross-asset experience spanning hedge funds, private equity, long-only strategies, real estate, structured products and more, Scott offers deep insight into institutional operational due diligence practices.

Most recently, Scott was the Head of Operational Due Diligence at USS Investment Management, where he designed and led the operational risk framework covering all external manager mandates and key service providers for one of the UK’s largest pension schemes.

Throughout his career, Scott has held roles as both an investment practitioner and risk specialist, having led operational due diligence reviews, developed risk-based scoring methodologies, and advised on remediation strategies across a wide range of fund structures. Scott has also overseen the development of governance and compliance review frameworks for portfolio companies, the development of compliance and AML/KYC frameworks, and has implemented supplier oversight programmes aligned to regulatory requirements.

Scott has previously held roles on JP Morgan’s equity trading desk in London, where he structured and assessed fund-linked derivative transactions and managed due diligence on underlying hedge fund exposures. He previously held the role of Risk Analyst at Amber Partners, a specialist hedge fund consultancy, as well as internal audit, business re-engineering, and financial control roles at JP Morgan, the Royal Bank of Canada, and PwC, with assignments across Canada, Europe, and the UK.

Scott has previously served on the Investment Committees of several asset owners and is a board member of multiple investment firms.

Scott has been a CFA® Charterholder since 2006 and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He is also a qualified Chartered Accountant (Canada). He holds a BA (Honours) in East Asian Studies from McGill University, a Graduate Diploma in Accountancy from Concordia University. In addition to English, he speaks French and Chinese fluently.