Matt Cwiertnia is a Partner and Head of Ares Private Equity Group. He serves on the Ares Executive Management Committee. He additionally serves as a member of the Ares Private Equity Group’s Corporate Opportunities and Special Opportunities investment committees.
Prior to joining Ares in 2005, Mr. Cwiertnia worked in the Financial Sponsors Group at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he focused on providing advisory and financing services to financial sponsors and their portfolio companies. Previously, Mr. Cwiertnia was a member of the investment banking department of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp. In addition, he worked at Jefferies & Co. Inc., where he focused on investment banking. Mr. Cwiertnia currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the parent entities of Convergint Technologies, CoolSys, and Resource Label Group. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors for Valet Living, LLC and Insight Global LLC.
Mr. Cwiertnia holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in business economics, magna cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a Master of Business Administration degree from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, where he graduated as a Carter Fellow. He also serves on the Board of Advisors for the Anderson School of Management.