Lori Scott was recently the Managing Director, Impact Credit at Lafayette Square, responsible for making credit available for entrepreneurs of color and women nationally. For 25 years, Lori has developed and executed impact investment strategies globally, with a focus on increasing capital for underserved people and places.
Prior to joining Lafayette Square, she was the Chief Credit Officer, Impact Investments, at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation where she led over $100 million in new investments and developed domestic and emerging market investment strategies across multiple social issue areas, including the Catalytic Capital Consortium and Benefit Chicago. She led the underwriting, policy development and risk management for the diverse portfolio of intermediated and direct debt, equity, guarantees, blended and other experimental, structured investments.
She helped to launch Skopos, a European family office’s first EUR 100 million impact investment fund and provided strategic advice, developed deal analysis and risk management protocols and led and structured emerging market equity fund investments. Lori has connected impact investors with investment opportunities that meet their social and financial goals and has experience developing and implementing a wide range of portfolio impact strategies. She was also an analyst for Aeris, the Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) rating agency, and the Department of Treasury CDFI Fund Bond Guaranty program.
As part of the senior management team Calvert Impact Capital, Lori contributed to its growth from $8 million to $500 million, including growing Community Investment Partners, an asset management and advisory subsidiary, to over $250 million in investments under management and provided impact investment advice and services to over 20 leading foundations and corporations. She started in impact investing as a real estate lender at IFF, a regional CDFI, and started her career in working on community arts grants programs for the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.