Ara Partners taps David and Desai as VPs

• Prior to Ara, David was a vice president at AUA Private Equity
• Desai joins Ara from KKR where she was a principal focused on the energy sector
• Ara Partners is focused on industrial decarbonization investments

Ara Partners has named Ari David and Manasi Desai have joined the firm as vice presidents. David will be based in Ara’s Boston office and Desai will be based in the Houston office.

“We are thrilled to bring Manasi on board to Ara’s growing investment team,” said Troy Thacker, a managing partner at Ara, in a statement. “Manasi brings highly relevant experience executing and managing industrial investments, as well as history of working with several key members of Ara’s investment team.”

Desai joins Ara from KKR where she was a principal focused on the energy sector. Prior to joining KKR, she was with private equity firm Intervale Capital and the energy investment banking group at Raymond James. Desai holds a bachelor of arts from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

David joins Ara from AUA Private Equity where he was a vice president responsible for origination, structuring, due diligence, execution and monitoring of investments in the consumer and food sectors. Prior to joining AUA, he was with J.P. Morgan Asset Management. David holds a bachelor of arts in economics from Tufts University and MBA from Columbia Business School.

Ara Partners is focused on industrial decarbonization investments. Ara Partners closed its second fund with approximately $1.1 billion in capital commitments in September 2021.