Ares promotes Phillips to CFO

Ares Management has promoted partner and chief accounting officer Jarrod Phillips to CFO.

He takes over from Michael McFerran who has been fired from the position, which he held since 2015.

Philips joined Ares in 2016 as chief accounting officer and since 2020 he has served as CFO of Ares Acquisition Corp. Prior to joining Ares, he spent 15 years at Deloitte & Touche, where he was an audit partner focused on financial services and asset management assurance and advisory services.

“Jarrod has a track record of strong leadership and a deep knowledge base, and is supported by a talented partner group across our finance function,” said Michael Arougheti, CEO and president of Ares. “I have had the pleasure of knowing and working closely with Jarrod since he joined Ares over five years ago and look forward to our continued partnership.”

As part of this move, each of Ares’ business operations functions, including legal, HR, compliance and technology, now report directly to Arougheti.

McFerran departure

According to a US filing by Ares, the board of directors’ decision to terminate McFerran’s employment was made following a thorough and comprehensive investigation by outside legal counsel. “That investigation found that Mr. McFerran engaged in inappropriate personal relationships and interactions with certain employees in violation of company policies, including human resources policies and other codes of conduct, as well as his agreements with the company. Mr. McFerran’s termination was unrelated to the company’s operations or financial controls,” the report said.

“As soon as we became aware of the allegations, we began an investigation and retained outside counsel to assist us in this process,” commented Tony Ressler, co-founder and executive chair of Ares. “The board took swift action upon receipt of the investigation’s findings, terminating Mr. McFerran with forfeiture of significant economic interests. Mr. McFerran’s conduct was entirely inconsistent with our values and cannot be tolerated.”

As part of his termination, McFerran has forfeited all future compensation, all unvested restricted units and all unvested carried interest. These bonuses are believed to be valued at more than $50m, and would have vested over the next five years to 2026.

At the time of publication, The Drawdown could not reach McFerran for comment.