Michael Smith

Mr. Smith is a Partner and Co-Head of the Ares Credit Group. He also serves on the Ares Operating Committee. Additionally, he serves as a Director and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ares Capital Corporation and previously served as Co-President of Ares Capital Corporation from July 2014 to October 2022 and Executive Vice President from May 2013 to July 2014. He is a Trustee and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Ares Strategic Income Fund and a Vice President of CION Ares Diversified Credit Fund. He also serves on the Board of Managers of Ivy Hill Asset Management GP, LLC. He is a member of the Ares Credit Group's U.S. Direct Lending, Opportunistic Credit and Commercial Finance Investment Committees, the Ivy Hill Asset Management Investment Committee, the Ares Secondaries Group's Private Equity Investment Committee, and the Ares Infrastructure Group's Infrastructure Opportunities, Climate Infrastructure Partners and Infrastructure Debt Investment Committees. He may from time to time serve as an officer, director or principal of other entities affiliated with Ares Management or investment funds managed by Ares Management and its affiliates. Prior to joining Ares in 2004, Mr. Smith was a Partner at RBC Capital Partners, a division of Royal Bank of Canada, which led the firm's middle market financing and principal investment business. Previously, Mr. Smith worked at Indosuez Capital in their Merchant Banking Group, Kenter, Glastris & Company, and at Salomon Brothers Inc, in their Debt Capital Markets Group and Financial Institutions Group. Mr. Smith serves on the Board of Directors of the University of Notre Dame's Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunity (LEO), which helps service providers apply scientific evaluation methods to better understand and share effective poverty interventions. Mr. Smith received a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame and a Masters in Management from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.