Maria Long joined ORC as Head of Operational Due Diligence in January 2023. Maria leads ORC’s Operational Due Diligence services, and provides specialist advisory services to Sovereign Wealth Funds, Central Banks, Custodians, GPs, Pension Funds and Family Offices on managing the operational risks associated with investments. Prior to joining ORC in January 2023, Maria was at the Standards Board for Alternative Investments and Man Group.Maria has a proven track record implementing robust investment programs and fund manager selection and implementation, at both client and industry levels. Joining ORC from the Standards Board for Alternative Investments, where she was Research and Content Director, Maria is responsible for advising institutional investors on the practical application of global best practice standards. Maria is an ESG, investment governance and digital assets due diligence specialist.

With over 20 years of broad investment operations, regulatory, due diligence and advisory experience, Maria brings a seasoned approach to the quality of her client advice. Maria has been responsible for running hedge fund operations at an institutional standard. Prior to her role at SBAI, where Maria lobbied global regulators on emerging regulation and was responsible for authoring a number of industry white papers, Maria has held senior positions with Man FRM, as both Head of Middle Office Accounting, and as an Operational Due Diligence specialist. Other roles include Accounting Operations Manager at Northern Trust, as well as investment operations positions with Unigestionand Thames River Capital hedge funds, where she was responsible for Trade execution, valuations and client reporting.

Maria is a member of the Standards Board for Alternative Investment’s Working Groups on Digital Assets and Responsible Investment. Maria holds a first class Bachelor’s degree in Natural Sciences (Astronomy and Cosmology) and is a frequent panellist and speaker at financial services forums.