Ares Capital Corporation announced that James (“Jim”) R. Miller was appointed as Co-President to serve alongside current Co-President, Kort Schnabel. Concurrently, Ares Capital’s Board of Directors was expanded by one member. Mitchell (“Mitch”) Goldstein joined Ares Capital’s Board of Directors, and Mitch Goldstein and Michael L. Smith have been appointed to serve as Co-Chairmen of Ares Capital’s Board of Directors. Michael Arougheti will cease to serve as Chairman of Ares Capital’s Board of Directors but will continue to serve as a Director. Kipp deVeer will continue in his role as a Director and Chief Executive Officer.
Miller joined Ares in 2006 and serves as Co-Head of the Ares U.S. Direct Lending strategy and is a member of the Investment Committee of Ares Capital’s investment manager. He also co-leads the Ares Sports, Media and Entertainment strategy and serves on its Investment Committee. Miller holds a B.A. from Fairfield University in Economics and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
“Over the years, Jim’s leadership and extensive investment experience have helped position Ares Capital as a pioneer and a leader in direct lending,” said Kipp deVeer. “We are fortunate to have a deep bench of talent leading Ares Capital, and Jim’s appointment reflects the growth and success of the business. I look forward to continuing to work closely with Jim and Kort to meet and exceed the needs of our borrowers and to seek to generate attractive risk-adjusted investment returns for our shareholders.”
“On behalf of the Ares Capital Board, I am very pleased to hand over the reins of Chairman to my longtime business partners and friends, Mitch and Michael,” said Michael Arougheti. “It has been twenty years since Ares Capital’s IPO, and since then it has grown into the largest publicly traded BDC by market capitalization and generated strong shareholder returns. Both Mitch and Michael have been instrumental to the success of Ares Capital since its founding, and I look forward to their many contributions as Co-Chairmen of the Board.”