Peter Saldarriaga

Managing Director

Peter Saldarriaga is a Managing Director at Ara and is involved with all aspects of the firm’s investment process. Peter has over fifteen years of experience in private equity and consulting.

Before joining Ara in 2022, Peter was a Principal on the private equity investment team at Bain Capital, where he spent over twelve years focused on buyouts and growth investments in the industrial, business services, and technology sectors. Peter also was the co-founder, CEO, and CFO of Belong Acquisition Corp, a $150 million SPAC focused on high-growth tech-enabled businesses, underpinned by a belief that diverse teams win. He began his career as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company in New York and India, serving clients in the industrial, private equity, technology, and media sectors.

Peter holds a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science cum laude from Harvard College and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Mary Kathryn Scaff

Vice President

Mary Kathryn Scaff is a Vice President at Ara, where she is focused on transaction execution and portfolio company management.

Prior to joining Ara in 2020, Mary Kathryn was a Senior Analyst in the Lower-Middle Market division of Main Street Capital Corporation, where she evaluated, negotiated, and executed investments across the capital structures of high-growth product companies and played a key role in their strategic oversight.

Mary Kathryn holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas, Austin.

Jérôme Schmitt

Operating Partner

Jérôme has more than 30 years of experience in the energy and mobility value chain, primarily focused on finance, sustainability and business streams.

He is currently chairman of C-4WARD, a company dedicated to accelerating transitions, working with world scale investment funds, global institutions and initiatives and start-ups on their energy transition and sustainability journey.

Jérôme was previously Head of IR (2004-2009), Group Treasurer and Head of Financing (2009-2012), and Head of M&A (2019-2021) of TotalEnergies.  He has also been Chief Sustainability officer of TotalEnergies (2013-2016), and chairman of OGCI Executive Committee until 2021, developing the first Climate and Net Zero road maps of the industry.  Jérôme worked for several years to develop and finance gas value chain projects in the Middle East & Asia and created and led the Net Zero Businesses division of TotalEnergies (2016-2019), as well as its dedicated venture fund.

Chris Seenan

Principal

Chris Seenan is a Principal at Ara and is involved with all aspects of the firm’s investment process.

Before joining Ara as a Vice President in 2021, Chris served as a Vice President at Aksiom Group. Prior to Aksiom, he worked for several PE-backed companies developing renewable energy projects in emerging markets. Chris started his career at Deloitte within the financial services division of their audit practice and progressed to positions within their corporate finance advisory division, where he was involved in projects and transactions across service areas including M&A, debt advisory, business modelling and valuations.

Chris received a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours in Mechanical Engineering and a Graduate Diploma in Accounting from University of Ulster. He is an Associate member of Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Lance Shaw

Project Commercial Development, Portfolio Services

Lance Shaw is focused on Project Commercial Development in Ara’s Portfolio Services Group.  Lance has over 20 years of project development and execution, operations and engineering experience, primarily with ExxonMobil.

Lance also served for six years in the United States Marine Corps.  He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from California State University-Sacramento, a Masters of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Ken Sigman

Senior Operating Partner

Ken Sigman is a Senior Operating Partner at Ara, where he brings more than 25 years of experience in global commercial leadership, strategy, and sustainability across the packaging and energy space.

Previously, Ken was Chief Commercial Officer at C&D Technologies, a $1 billion energy storage manufacturer, where he lead sales, marketing, product management, commercial operations, and their wholesale distribution business.  He helped lead a complete turnaround, integrated a major acquisition (Trojan Battery), developed and launched their first lithium ion battery, and significantly grew their top and bottom line.

Prior, Ken was Chief Commercial Officer and a key member of the executive team at Anchor Glass Container. During his tenure, he helped double the enterprise value and generated a 5x return for investors with a gross IRR of 132.4% – culminating in the Buyout Insider’s 2017 Private Equity Deal of the Year.

Earlier in his career, he was Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Graham Packaging, a rigid plastic bottle manufacturer, where he helped turn around two $1 billion business units. Prior to this, he was Director of Sales for Novelis, Inc, a leader in aluminum rolled products, where he was responsible for their $2.8 billion beverage can business. Prior to this, he was Director of Sales for Alpla, Inc, a $4 billion global leader in rigid plastic bottles and closures, where he grew their North American business from $18 million to greater than $300 million with 9 new manufacturing facilities. Prior to this, he was a leader in engineering at Centro, Inc, an industrial plastics manufacturer, where he was awarded the Society of Plastics Engineer’s 2001 Industrial Design of the Year Award.

Ken earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the University of Iowa, where he currently serves as a member of their Advisory Board.

David Sims

Managing Director, Energy Decarbonization

David brings extensive expertise in asset management and strategic acquisitions to advance the firm’s initiatives in decarbonization and energy transformation. His career is marked by significant achievements in strategic oversight and operational efficiency improvements, particularly in asset and midstream operations from his time at Constellation Energy and Pilot Company.  He was also a founding partner of a Registered Investment Adviser (OneMap Minerals Services) where his primary responsibilities included financial oversight, fundraising, and fund investments.  His experience extends across leading business units and managing investments, which plays a crucial role in his ability to drive strategic projects at Ara Energy.  To that end, David’s role involves steering critical aspects of the firm’s strategy to enhance returns and sustainability across various energy sectors.

David holds an MBA from Rice University, focusing on Finance and Entrepreneurship, and finished his undergraduate studies at Texas A&M University.

Kevin Sonneveld

Principal, Infrastructure

Kevin Sonneveld joined Ara in 2023 as a Principal focused on the Firm’s infrastructure strategy.  Kevin has over ten years of infrastructure investment and project management experience.

Prior to joining Ara, Kevin was a Vice President with Astatine Investment Partners (formerly Alinda Capital Partners) responsible for the origination, execution and asset management of mid-market value-added infrastructure investments across numerous verticals, including utility-related business models and transport & logistics. Previously, Kevin was a key member of Alberta Investment Management Corporation’s direct European infrastructure investment team. Prior to that Kevin worked at USS (University Superannuation Scheme) Investment Management, the largest private pension scheme in the UK across direct infrastructure and private equity investments. He started his career at Commerzbank.

Kevin holds an Msc in Economics from Trinity College Dublin and a BA in Economics & Political Science from Utrecht University.

Brian Spears

Project Services Director, Portfolio Services

Brian Spears is Project Services Director in the Portfolio Services Group, focused on effective project development in Ara’s industrial portfolio. Brian has over 20 years of capital project experience through technical and managerial roles with GE and ExxonMobil. He has held key leadership roles on global multi-billion dollar projects and has expertise in cost estimating, project controls, project execution planning, project management, and contract strategy.

Brian also served for nine years in the US Navy as a submarine officer and holds a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the University of Mississippi.

Laura Stamey

Director of Finance

Laura Stamey is involved with all aspects of Ara’s finance operations, including investor reporting, tax and audit.

Prior to joining Ara in 2018, Laura was a Senior Manager at Condon & Company, P.C., a boutique CPA firm, in the Financial Advisory Services group. At Condon, she was primarily focused on financial and operational reporting, audit facilitation, and fund administration services. Laura also has experience with system design and implementation, transaction support, and analytical tool development. Prior to Condon, Laura served as an Experienced Audit Associate with Weinstein Spira & Company, and as an Associate at Occidental Petroleum.

Laura holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting and a Master in accounting from Trinity University. She is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of Texas. She is a member of the Texas Society of Public Accountants (TSCPA), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and the Junior League of Houston.

Benjamin Sun

Vice President, Infrastructure

Benjamin Sun joined Ara in 2023 as a Vice President on the Firm’s Infrastructure strategy.

Prior to joining Ara, Ben was a Vice President at The Energy & Minerals Group, a diversified energy private equity fund, focused on midstream, upstream and decarbonization sectors.  Prior to joining EMG, Ben was an associate in Evercore’s investment banking group and held various finance and accounting roles within the energy sector.

Ben holds a Master of Business Administration, Master in Professional Accounting and Bachelor in Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin.

Dalton Tice

Associate

Dalton Tice is an Associate at Ara, where he is focused on identifying and evaluating investment opportunities, as well as transaction execution and portfolio company management.

Prior to joining Ara, Dalton was an Investor at Praesidium Agri-Food Tech, a venture and growth equity fund investing across the food and agriculture value chain. Before joining Praesidium, Dalton was an Investment Banking Associate within Rothschild & Co’s Healthcare M&A team in London.

Dalton is a qualified veterinarian from the University of Bristol in the UK and in his free time enjoys fly fishing for trout on the great western loughs of Ireland.

David Touhey

Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Services

David Touhey is Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Services, focused on the best in project development with respect to Ara’s industrial portfolio. Prior to joining Ara, David was the Executive Vice president for Kent, a global EPC, Operations and Maintenance business. At Kent, David was a key member of the executive team that grew the organization from 4,000 people across 19 countries to 12,500 people across 26 countries. During his time at Kent, he was the executive sponsor and trusted advisor to his clients, which included ExxonMobil, BP and Chevron in the space of early project investment planning and execution strategies. David’s program execution philosophy is the alignment of owner, EPC, commissioning, start-up, and operations phases of development planning during the investment decisions of projects to ensure all project stakeholders are aligned on the business strategy of the project investment decision.

David holds a Bachelor’s in electrical services engineering from Technological University Dublin, Ireland and a Master’s of Science in Strategic Leadership and Management from Nottingham Trent University in the UK.

Chris Trachier

Vice President

Chris Trachier is a Vice President at Ara and is involved with all aspects of the firm’s investment process.

Prior to joining Ara as a Senior Associate in 2021, Chris served as an Associate at Pelican Energy Partners, a private equity firm focused on investments in energy services and manufacturing companies, where he was responsible for investment evaluation, due diligence, execution and monitoring. Prior to joining Pelican, he was an Analyst in the Oil & Gas Investment Banking group at Moelis & Company.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master in Professional Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of Texas.

Muhammad Usman

Associate

Muhammad Usman is an Associate at Ara, where he is focused on identifying and evaluating investment opportunities as well as transaction execution and portfolio company management.

Prior to joining Ara, Muhammad was an Analyst in the Consumer Retail Investment Banking group at Solomon Partners, where he advised public and private corporations on M&A transactions, restructurings, and overall strategic analyses.

Muhammad holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.

Nikki Vasquez

Senior Finance Operations Coordinator

Nikki is involved with various aspects of Ara’s finance and administrative operations.

Prior to joining Ara, Nikki was a Billing Coordinator at Miller Grossbard Advisors, LLP, a boutique CPA firm, in their operations department. At MGA, she was primarily focused on building, implementing, and running the billing department, and working with partners and tax managers to insure accurate and timely billing.  Nikki was also responsible for financial reporting and licensing.  Nikki has many years of experience with office administration, financial reporting, software implementation, and executive support. Prior to MGA, Nikki served as an Executive Administrator and Billing Coordinator for Condon & Company, P.C.

Brandon Waiter

Associate Director of Operations

Brandon Waiter is involved with operations and investor relations matters across the Ara platform.

Prior to joining Ara, Brandon worked as an analyst with Energent Group, which provides market research and advisory services for clients across the energy sector.

Brandon holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Merrimack College.

Sean Wang

Associate

Sean Wang is an Associate at Ara, where he is focused on identifying and evaluating investment opportunities as well as transaction execution and portfolio company management.

Prior to joining Ara, Sean was an Investment Banking Analyst in the Clean Energy Transition group at Citi, where he advised public and private companies on M&A transactions, private placements, SPACs, debt financings and other capital markets transactions. At Citi, Sean worked extensively with a wide range of clients in the energy storage, low carbon fuels, bioplastics, sustainable protein and advanced nuclear sectors.

Sean graduated from Indiana University with dual degrees in Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Bachelor of Art in Mathematics.

Justin Ward

Strategic Operations Advisor

Justin Ward is a Strategic Operations Advisor in the Portfolio Services Group, where he focuses on improving operations in Ara’s industrial portfolio.

Prior to joining Ara, Justin worked at ExxonMobil in process engineering and manufacturing optimization. Most recently, he worked as a management consultant at Kearney, where he advised clients on strategic operations across energy, consumer goods, and technology industries.

Justin graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering.

Brayton Wright

Office Manager

Brayton oversees the day-to-day operations of the Boston office, and assists the partners when needed.

Prior to joining Ara, Brayton taught grades 2-5 in Cambridge, MA. He’s lived in various states across the US, working as a teacher, photographer, writer, helping run the family food truck, volunteering, and going to school full time.

A recent addition to Ara, he was drawn to the firm due to their goals of decarbonization and aims to learn more about the industry through his fellow staff.

He recently graduated from Harvard with a degree in Political Science with dual minors in History and Psychology. He enjoys reading, photography, making art, writing and studying. He’s also an active volunteer with LGBT groups.