Charles Cherington

Managing Partner

Charles Cherington co-founded Ara in 2017, co-heads the firm alongside Troy Thacker, and is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. He has more than 25 years of private equity experience in the industrial, energy and chemical industries in which he has executed over 50 transactions. Charles’ ten most recent investments have all targeted carbon reduction in the industrial and chemical industries.

Prior to co-founding Ara, Charles founded Intervale Capital in 2006 after successfully managing two smaller private equity firms focused on industrial buyouts. Charles previously worked for Lochridge & Company, a strategy consulting firm. Prior to that, Charles worked for the Vietnam Fund in Hanoi and Saigon. After graduating from business school, Charles’ first job was with Credit Suisse, in municipal finance.

Charles holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Wesleyan University and a Master of Business Administration, with honors, from the University of Chicago. Charles has long been active in the land conservation movement. He serves on the Board of Directors of The Conservation Fund, a national land conservation organization. Charles and his wife Ashley have donated more conservation easements in the State of Vermont than any other individual or private entity.

Charles grew up in Central Vermont, where he attended public schools, ran cross country and track poorly, and sold firewood as a side gig. He is married, with three sons. Charles enjoys hiking, running, reading, and reminding people that the world is getting hotter.

Troy Thacker

Managing Partner

Troy Thacker co-founded Ara in 2017, co-heads the firm alongside Charles Cherington and is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Troy has been investing in or serving as Chief Executive Officer of sustainable, impact-oriented businesses for over 25 years. He has led over 30 private equity transactions spanning the 1990’s to today 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 in the Gulf of Mexico watching sea turtles and fishing plastic out of the ocean.

Chris Picotte

Partner

Chris Picotte joined Ara in 2021 as Partner and is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Ara, Chris co-founded Aksiom Group in 2017.  Aksiom focused on the European technical services sector in companies enabling decarbonisation, industrial energy efficiency and digital transformation.  Aksiom’s portfolio included: px Group (acquired by Ara in 2021), Axess Networks Solutions (sold to Hispasat in 2022) and Jernbro Industrial Services.  He previously served as a Managing Director and Senior Advisor at ArcLight Capital Partners from 2001-2014, where he led their European investment activity. As both an institutional and private investor he has originated and managed more than $2 billion of equity investments in the infrastructure services, power, midstream and natural resources sectors throughout Europe and in the US.

Mr. Picotte earned a B.A. in Physics from Harvard University.

Cory Steffek

Partner

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 and a Master of Business Administration from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

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.

Tuan Tran

Senior Managing Director

Tuan Tran is a Senior Managing Director at Ara, where he serves as the firm’s Head of Strategic Relations and Head of Research across its Private Equity, Infrastructure, and Energy strategies. He has over 25 years of experience in private equity, investment banking and equity research.

Prior to joining Ara, Tuan was a Partner and a member of the Investment Committee at Intervale Capital (“Intervale”), a $1.3 billion firm he helped build over 15 years. As a Founding Member of Intervale, he led numerous M&A assignments, equity issuances, and debt financings. He was instrumental in developing the firm’s strategies around environmental services, industrial services, energy technology, growth equity and combination investing. While at Intervale, he also spearheaded recruiting, firm building, fundraising and implementation of portfolio management best practices. Across three funds, he served on the Board of Directors for over 15 portfolio companies.

He started his professional career in Barclays’ Investment Banking Division, with assignments in New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Tuan earned a BA with honors from Harvard University. In his spare time, Tuan serves on the Board of Directors of the Critical Minerals Institute, volunteers for “Little Brothers, Friends of the Elderly” and “Mended Hearts,” and serves as a Mentor for the Harvard Alumni Association.