Troy Thacker

Managing Partner

Troy Thacker co-founded Ara in 2017, co-heads the firm alongside Charles Cherington, and serves on the firm’s Investment Committee. For over 25 years, Troy has invested in and led sustainable, impact-oriented businesses, including roles as Chief Executive Officer. Since the 1990s, he has led transactions in the environmental, industrial, software, renewable and conventional energy and insurance industries. In addition, Troy spent eight years leading, growing and building businesses in the recycling, environmental services and safety industries, generating exceptional returns for investors.

Prior to co-founding Ara, Troy served as the Chief Executive Officer of Total Safety, Inc., an international worker safety solutions company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. Total Safety has approximately 4,000 employees, over 150 locations and serves multinational industrial, energy and process industry customers in more than 26 countries. From 2010 until 2013, Troy served as President and Chief Executive Officer of R360 Environmental Solutions, Inc., a leading recycling and environmental services business, which he sold for $1.4 billion to Waste Connections, Inc. in 2012. He was also a founding partner of Paine & Partners, LLC, (now known as Paine Schwartz Partners), a generalist private equity firm that together with its predecessors, managed in excess of $3 billion in equity capital across three institutional funds and based in San Francisco, CA.

Troy holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Rice University and attended Harvard Business School to play rugby and get an MBA. Troy sits on the Council of Overseers of Jones Business School at Rice University and serves as a director of the Hermann Park Conservancy. He is married, has three children and in his free time can be found on a paddleboard watching sea turtles and fishing plastic out of the ocean.

Shameek Konar

Partner, Head of Energy

Shameek Konar

Partner, Head of Energy

Shameek is Partner, Head of Ara Energy, leading the firm’s innovative strategy to acquire, optimize and decarbonize conventional energy assets. This strategy initially focuses on thermal power generation, biofuels production, and the transportation and distribution of retail energy products. Shameek has over 25 years of experience in the energy sector and prior to Ara Shameek served as the CEO of Pilot Company, the largest supplier of transportation fuels in the US. During his time at Pilot the company’s EBIT grew by over 80% in just over two years. His efforts there significantly boosted fuel sales, focused on customer experience and made the company a leader in low carbon fuels in the industry. Pilot became the largest seller of renewable fuels to the transportation industry at 1.5 Bn gallons a year and developed a nationwide network of DC fast chargers in partnership with GM to promote EV integration.

Before his tenure at Pilot, Shameek served as Chief Investment Officer at Castleton Commodities and Mercuria Energy Group, where he led significant expansions in their presence in North American commodity markets through the acquisitions of the J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley Commodities platforms, and invested in and operated investment portfolios of physical energy assets (power, logistics, production and processing) across multiple geographies. Shameek also spent time at Goldman Sachs, where, as Co-Head of Global Commodities and Principal Investing, and Constellation Energy, a leading U S energy merchant, where he was part of the executive leadership team responsible for the company’s strategy and M&A efforts. Shameek started his career as a public policy associate at Putnam, Hayes and Bartlett focusing on environmental and energy policy matters

Shameek’s comprehensive understanding of the global energy landscape drives Ara Energy’s focus on applying sustainable and innovative solutions to conventional energy assets. Shameek serves on the Advisory Board of the Haslam School of Business at the University of Tennessee, the Board of Directors for The Conservation Fund and in his spare time teaches climate change and mergers & acquisitions at the University of Tennessee. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Vanderbilt University, with a focus on Finance and Corporate Environmental Performance. Beyond his professional pursuits, Shameek is passionate about the outdoors, actively engaging in hiking, cycling, golf and tennis.

Chris Picotte

Partner, CIO of Private Equity

Teresa O’Flynn

Partner, Co-Head of Infrastructure

Cory Steffek

Partner, Private Equity

Cory Steffek

Partner, Private Equity

Cory Steffek joined Ara in 2018 as Managing Director, and is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. He brings 25 years of experience launching new products and investing in the advanced materials and energy space. Cory has dedicated his career to working with talented entrepreneurs and executives who are focused on developing game-changing technologies that advance sustainability and lower carbon footprints. He currently serves on the board of directors for several Ara portfolio companies.

Prior to Ara, Cory was the founding Managing Director of Aramco Energy Ventures in North America. At Aramco Ventures, he led investments in companies involved in renewable energy, low carbon chemicals and fuels, advanced materials, and energy efficiency through digital automation and robotics. This included leading the investment and acquisition of Novomer Polyols, the first company to commercially develop a catalyst incorporating carbon dioxide into traditional hydrocarbons, dramatically lowering the carbon footprint for a variety of products.

Before joining Aramco Ventures, Cory was Director of Corporate Development and Strategy at First Solar, responsible for strategic investments and acquisitions, with an emphasis on new technologies and products. Preceding First Solar, he led sustainability investments in a broad range of energy technology companies at the Altira Group. In addition, he held several management roles in product development and engineering at PPG Industries, where he oversaw the launch of several new products and was responsible for 18 awarded patents.

Cory holds a PhD in materials chemistry from the University of Michigan, where he conducted research under Nobel Laureate Omar Yaghi, and holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

In his free time, Cory enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters, particularly on family bicycle tours. He also loves going on long hikes with his dog, exploring rarely seen areas of the golf course to find his ball, and the endless pursuit of perfecting the small batch craft gin.

Churchill George Yong

Partner, Co-Head of Infrastructure

Churchill George Yong

Partner, Co-Head of Infrastructure

George Yong joined Ara in 2022 and co-leads the Firm’s infrastructure strategy. George has over 15 years of experience in infrastructure private equity investment across the energy and industrial sectors.

Prior to joining Ara, George was a Managing Director and member of the Investment Committee at ArcLight Capital (“ArcLight”), a multi-billion infrastructure private equity manager. During his decade-long tenure at ArcLight, George led numerous transactions in sectors such as power generation, industrials, transportation, and downstream infrastructure. He originated and led a wide range of transactions spanning project development & construction, corporate asset carve-outs, joint ventures with industry incumbents, take-privates, and management buyouts. Notably, many of George’s transactions have focused on leveraging existing infrastructure such as bulk liquid terminals and retail convenience stores to facilitate the transition to the low-carbon economy. While at ArcLight, George also served on and chaired the boards of numerous portfolio companies, and was active in fundraising and recruiting efforts.

Earlier in his career, George served as a consultant at FTI Consulting and Charles River Associates, where he implemented multivariate economic simulation models to help clients such as private equity firms and utilities value power generation infrastructure assets across North America. He started his career as a natural gas analyst at Saracen Energy, an energy commodities hedge fund, where he supported senior traders with rigorous natural gas market analytics, and also traded NYMEX natural gas futures.

George originally hails from Colombia, and first moved to the United States to complete a bachelor of science in Chemical Biological Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In his free time, he is passionate about traveling with his wife and daughter, and fishing the coastal waters of New England on his kayak.