29. Adam Palmer

Chief Constable, VPD

Age: 52 | First AppearanceWhen the city was looking for a new chief constable last year, Adam Palmer was one of three internal candidates who ticked all the boxes. After studying business administration at SFU, he worked as a corrections officer before joining the force in 1987. He’s served everywhere from the jail to the gang crime unit, and from police/Crown liaison to the planning, research, and audit section. As an inspector, he oversaw the city’s toughest neighbourhoods, as well as the port and marine division. During the Winter Games, he was venue commander for the Pacific Coliseum.Deputy chief since 2010, he ended up with responsibility for all investigative areas of the force. Along the way he’s also led executive leadership programs with the FBI. Palmer clearly had the resume and the experience the position demands, and was appointed the VPD’s 31st chief constable in May. The intangibles of leadership are harder to assess. Peter Brown, the Canaccord founder and honourary VPD chief, called Palmer’s predecessor, Jim Chu, “one of the finest people I’ve ever met, a natural leader who’s quick to credit others for any success and to take responsibility for any failures or shortcomings.” Chu’s legacy is a police force considered among the best in North America; Palmer’s challenge is to build on that legacy while making the force his own.

To see who else made 2015’s Power 50, click here >>