Peter Saldarriaga

Managing Director, Private Equity

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.

Chris Seenan

Principal, Private Equity

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, APEX

Lance Shaw is focused on Project Commercial Development on Ara’s Project Execution and Operations (APEX) team.  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.

Dylan Sheahan

Analyst, Private Equity

Dylan Sheahan is an analyst at Ara Partners, where he is focused on evaluating investment opportunities, transaction execution, and portfolio company management.

Prior to joining Ara, Dylan was a Senior Associate in the Transaction Services team at KPMG Ireland, where he focused primarily on UK and Ireland mid-market transactions for private equity and corporate clients.

Dylan earned a Master’s in Accounting from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and is an Associate member of Chartered Accountants Ireland.

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

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.

Lola Soyebo

Controller

Prior to joining Ara in 2024, Lola was a Senior Controller at Lionstone Investments, a real estate investment management firm that conceptualizes, analyzes, and executes national investment strategies. Prior to Lionstone Investments. Lola began her finance career with KPMG, a public accounting firm, working in the audit department in both the Houston and Dublin offices.

Lola received a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Accountancy from Baylor University. She is a licensed Certified Public Accountant.

Brian Spears

Director, APEX

Brian Spears is Director on the Project Execution and Operations team, 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.

Shefali Srinivasan

Associate, Investor Relations

Shefali Srinivasan is an Investor Relations Associate at Ara Partners.

Prior to joining Ara, Shefali was an Investment Banking Analyst in New York with KeyBanc Capital Markets’ Industrials Group, where she focused on M&A transactions across the Chemicals & Materials, Building Products, and Industrial Technology sectors.

Shefali holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and minor in Economics from The Ohio State University.

Colin St. Maxens

Senior Policy Advisor, Government Affairs

Colin St. Maxens is a Senior Policy Advisor at Ara Partners, based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. He provides strategic guidance on trade and tax policy, ensuring Ara’s portfolio companies are positioned to succeed in a complex global landscape.

Prior to joining Ara, Colin spent over a decade in the U.S. Senate, working for the Senate Committee on Finance and serving as a key advisor to Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho. As a policy advisor to the Senate Finance Committee, he drafted and negotiated significant trade legislation, such as the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade and the suspension of Russia’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations status. He also represented the Senate Finance Committee in high-level trade negotiations, including World Trade Organization Ministerial Conferences, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forums, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, and the U.S-Kenya Strategic Investment Partnership.

Colin earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Pennsylvania. Outside of work, Colin enjoys playing golf, hiking, and fishing. He lives in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife, daughter and dog.

Dalton Tice

Senior Associate, Private Equity

Dalton Tice is a Senior 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 APEX

David Touhey is Managing Director, Head of Project Executions and Operations, 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, Private Equity

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.

Camille Traverso

Analyst, Private Equity

Camille Traverso joined Ara Partners as an Analyst in 2025, supporting the broader investment team. Before joining Ara, Camille was an Investment Analyst at Erisbeg, an Irish private equity firm specialising in SME buyouts. Camille also worked with the ESG team at RiverRock, a London-based alternative investment management firm.

Camille holds an MSc in Finance from Trinity College Dublin and a BBA from INSEEC Bordeaux.

Muhammad Usman

Senior Associate, Private Equity

Muhammad Usman is a Senior 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.

David Van der Linden

Director, APEX

David van der Linden is a Director in the Project Execution and Operations team. Most recently, David was the Vice President for Capital Projects with Genera Inc, an Ara Partners portfolio company.

He has over 30 years of broad international project experience in infrastructure, refining, petrochemical, mining and medical device industries. David has a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Hons) from Monash University, Australia.

Brandon Waiter

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.

Kevin Wang

Vice President, Energy

Kevin is a Vice President at Ara, where he is focused on transaction execution and portfolio company management for the Energy strategy.

Prior to joining Ara in 2024, Kevin founded an investment vehicle and served as a Vice President at Riverstone, a private equity firm focused on energy, power, and decarbonization. He began his career in the global energy and power investment banking group at Rothschild & Co.

Kevin graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and earned his Masters in Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He enjoys snow sports, golf, tennis, and going on walks and runs with his wife and their dog.

Justin Ward

Manager, APEX

Justin Ward is a Manager on the Project Execution and Operations team, 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.