Teresa O’Flynn

Partner, Infrastructure

Teresa joined Ara in 2022 and co-leads the Firm’s infrastructure strategy.  She has more than twenty years of sustainable investing expertise with extensive renewable power energy infrastructure experience, both in the fund management sector and at the operating company level.

Teresa joined BlackRock in 2011 as a founding member of its Global Renewable Power Infrastructure business. In 2019, she became Global Head of Sustainable Investing for BlackRock’s Alternatives investment platform. Prior to joining BlackRock, Teresa worked for NTR plc, a private infrastructure developer, across several of the group’s European and US wind development subsidiaries. Teresa holds a bachelor of commerce degree from University College Galway and is qualified as a Chartered Accountant and Tax Consultant with Arthur Andersen.

Churchill George Yong

Partner, 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.

Alyssa Hooper

Managing Director, Infrastructure

Alyssa Hooper joined Ara in 2022 as a Principal focused on the Firm’s infrastructure strategy.  Alyssa has over ten years of infrastructure investment and project management experience.

Prior to joining Ara, Alyssa was a Principal at Global Infrastructure Partners focused across numerous verticals, including transportation, digital infrastructure, and energy.  Previously, Alyssa served as a Vice President in Goldman Sachs, where she built and led the Midstream Leveraged Finance business.  She started her career in investment banking at Credit Suisse, where she served as Associate in the Leveraged Finance Origination & Restructuring group and as an Analyst in the Global Energy and Project Finance group.

Alyssa holds a bachelor of science in Finance and Accounting from New York University Stern School of Business.

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.

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.

Huilai Gu

Associate, Infrastructure

Huilai Gu joins Ara as an Associate on the Infrastructure investment team.

Previously, she worked on utility-scale power generation M&A at Onward Energy, an IPP operating 6GW of solar, wind, and gas assets. Huilai started her career in the Energy Practice of Charles River Associates, an economic and management consulting firm, where she focused on utility resource planning and transmission projects.

Huilai graduated magna cum laude from Lehigh University, with dual B.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering and Finance.

Gina Hadam

Senior Associate, Infrastructure

Gina Hadam is a Senior Associate at Ara, where she is focused on the Firm’s infrastructure strategy.

Prior to joining Ara in 2022, Gina was an Analyst at Green Giraffe, a financial advisory firm focused on renewable energy, where she focused on M&A transactions in the offshore wind, solar, and hydrogen sectors. Prior to joining Green Giraffe, Gina was a Senior Strategy Analyst at Accenture Strategy, where she advised public companies in the power & utilities and chemicals industries on various growth strategies.

Gina holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Ross Casey

Associate, Infrastructure

Ross Casey joined Ara in 2023 as an Associate focused on the Firm’s infrastructure strategy.

Prior to joining Ara, Ross was an Associate in the EMEA Execution Group at UBS Investment Bank, where he advised the M&A, capital raises and strategy of public and private companies.

Ross holds an MSc in Financial Analysis from the London Business School and a BA in Business and Economics from Trinity College Dublin.