Ara Partner’s Climate Week Panel and Networking Reception 2026

During NYC Climate Week, Ara Partners hosted a panel and networking reception titled “Delivering Industrial Decarbonization at Scale.” Charles Cherington, Ara’s Managing Partner, moderated the panel and was joined by three speakers:

• Martin Wood, Co-Founder and Director, Bryden Wood
• Dave Touhey, Managing Director and Head of APEX, Ara Partners
• Ryan Begin, CEO, Divert

Building on last year’s focus on pragmatic decarbonization, this year’s discussion explored what it takes to carry a first-of-a-kind (FOAK) industrial project across the chasm from proven technology to stable, operating infrastructure. The panelists agreed that scale starts with a strong foundation consisting of a disciplined design, a repeatable process, and the right team at every stage. As Dave Touhey put it, “go slow to go smooth, go smooth to go fast.”

Charles Cherington reinforced the point: “We just can’t emphasize the importance of getting that design and process right upfront enough. That creative process is the difference between something that can become a multi-billion-dollar business and a zero, from a private equity perspective.” 

Each panelist brought a distinct vantage point, spanning design and engineering, project execution, and operating leadership, on how industrial projects move from investment thesis to operating facility, and what determines whether a project can scale to nth-of-a-kind (NOAK). 

Key thematic takeaways

• Getting design right upfront drives cost, schedule, and scalability. Decisions made in the design phase shape a project’s construction time, CapEx, and OpEx for its entire life. Martin Wood (Co-Founder and Director, Bryden Wood) shared how Bryden Wood brings a manufacturing mindset to industrial construction, designing facilities from standardized, repeatable components that adapt to each site. By integrating architecture, engineering, and technology from the start, Bryden Wood helps process technology companies turn innovation into plant designs built to scale. 

• A repeatable, stage-gated process turns one plant into a fleet. Once a process technology is proven, scale-up becomes the central challenge. Modular, standardized design allows each build to capture lessons from the last, lowering cost and shortening timelines with every plant. Dave Touhey (Managing Director and Head of APEX at Ara) described how APEX, Ara’s project execution team, applies a repeatable five-stage-gate methodology to reduce risk from feasibility through operation. Strong upfront design sets the blueprint, and a disciplined stage-gate process delivers it plant after plant. 

• Teams evolve as projects mature. Each stage of growth calls for a different team and skillset. Ryan Begin (CEO, Divert) noted that the entrepreneurial team cranking wrenches and solving problems in the early days builds the foundation, and scaling the business calls for experienced engineering leadership that can execute through others. Recognizing when that shift is needed, and executing it in step with the company’s growth, is critical to success.  

Thank you to everyone who joined Ara’s NYC Climate Week event. We appreciate our panelists‘ expertise and candor and are proud to create a space for shared learning on how to successfully build and scale industrial decarbonization projects.