Michael Harper

Mr. Harper is a Partner and Head of Portfolio Management in the Ares Credit Group, where he focuses on systematic credit. Additionally, Mr. Harper serves on the Ares Systematic Credit Investment Committee. Prior to joining Ares in 2026, Mr. Harper was the Head of Portfolio Management at BlueCove Limited, an active systematic credit manager focused on long-short, total return and benchmarked solutions across global liquid credit markets. Previously, Mr. Harper was a Managing Director and EMEA Head of Fixed Income Core Portfolio Management at BlackRock, where he led the Portfolio Management team responsible for systematic fixed income, index and ETF strategies across credit, rates and foreign exchange. In addition, he served as a Portfolio Manager at Barclays Global Investors prior to its merger with BlackRock. Mr. Harper holds a B.Sc. from Southampton University in Mathematics and Finance. He is a CFA® charterholder.