Naseem Sagati Aghili
Ares ManagementAbout Naseem Sagati Aghili
Partner, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Ares Management Corporation since January 2020; age 43. She leads Ares’ Legal & Compliance function, serves on the Operating Committee and Enterprise Risk Committee, and holds officer roles across several Ares-listed and registered vehicles. Prior to joining Ares in 2009, she practiced at Proskauer Rose LLP focusing on M&A, securities offerings, and general corporate; she holds a B.A. (UC Berkeley) and J.D. (USC Gould) . Firm performance during her tenure shows strong multi-year TSR and operating growth, supporting alignment of leadership incentives with shareholder value .
| Ares performance (FY) | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSR value of $100 investment | 138 | 245 | 213 | 383 | 585 |
| Peer group TSR (DJ U.S. Asset Managers) | 115 | 162 | 127 | 156 | 215 |
| Net Income ($USD Thousands) | 130,442 | 386,748 | 167,541 | 474,326 | 440,961 |
| Fee Related Earnings (FRE) ($USD Thousands) | 431,231 | 712,308 | 994,350 | 1,163,741 | 1,361,737 |
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ares Management Corporation | Partner, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | Since Jan 2020 | Leads Legal & Compliance; member of Operating and Enterprise Risk Committees |
| Ares Management Corporation | Co-General Counsel; Deputy General Counsel; General Counsel of Private Equity | Tenure at Ares since 2009 (pre-2020) | Supported growth, governance, and transaction execution across platforms |
| Ares Management Corporation | Head of Legal function reporting to CEO as part of Business Operations | 2021 disclosure context | Centralized legal oversight and policy enforcement |
| Proskauer Rose LLP | Associate (M&A, Securities, Corporate) | Pre-2009 | Executed M&A and capital markets transactions |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ares Private Markets Fund | Chief Legal Officer; Vice President; Assistant Secretary | Current as of 2025 | Affiliated vehicle oversight |
| Ares Capital Corporation | Vice President | Current as of 2025 | Public BDC affiliate |
| Ares Strategic Income Fund | Vice President | Current as of 2025 | Registered investment vehicle |
| Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund Inc. | Vice President | Current as of 2025 | Listed/registered fund role |
| CION Ares Diversified Credit Fund | Vice President | Current as of 2025 | Registered interval fund |
| Ares Core Infrastructure Fund | Vice President | Current as of 2025 | Private markets infrastructure |
Fixed Compensation
- Not disclosed for Ms. Sagati Aghili; she was not a Named Executive Officer in 2024 proxy disclosures. Ares provides detailed salary/bonus only for NEOs (CEO, Co-President, CFO, etc.) .
Performance Compensation
- Ares’ senior professionals are generally compensated through incentive fees and carried interest in applicable funds, and certain leaders receive restricted units; the pay program emphasizes long-term, performance-linked value creation rather than fixed cash .
- Company-selected performance measures used to align pay with outcomes include Fee Related Earnings, After-tax Realized Income per share, Assets Under Management, and Fund performance; specific metric weightings and individual targets for non-NEOs are not disclosed .
| Performance-linked element | Metric(s) | Target/weighting | Payout mechanics | Vesting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Incentive fees (senior professionals) | Fund hurdle/annual performance | Not disclosed | Paid when received by GP/manager; forfeitable on certain terms | Generally no vesting; certain post-termination tail for specified roles |
| Carried interest (senior professionals) | Fund preferred return; fund-level performance | Not disclosed | Distributed based on realized fund performance; subject to clawback (“contingent repayment”) | Generally five-year vesting; acceleration for certain partners/events |
| Restricted units (select executives) | Time-based (retention) | Not applicable | Dividend equivalents accrue, subject to vesting | Typically 4 equal installments years 2–5 post-grant |
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Item | Data |
|---|---|
| Co-investment (2024, personal capital) | $255,394 invested by Ms. Sagati Aghili across Ares funds |
| Distributions received (2024, personal capital) | $116,577 distributions to Ms. Sagati Aghili |
| Hedging/pledging | Hedging/short sales/speculative trading prohibited; pledging or margin use requires prior approval under insider trading policy |
| 10b5-1 trading plans | No new adoptions/terminations by directors or executive officers in Q3 2025 |
| Director ownership guidelines | Independent directors have stock ownership guidelines (3x cash retainer); no executive ownership guideline disclosure provided |
Employment Terms
- No individual employment agreement, severance, or change-in-control terms for Ms. Sagati Aghili were disclosed. The proxy details termination/vesting treatment for certain NEO equity awards; non-NEO agreements are not described .
Additional Program Mechanics Impacting Vesting/Selling Pressure
| Topic | Disclosure |
|---|---|
| Unvested awards scale | 19.97 million unvested awards outstanding at 9/30/2025; weighted average grant-date fair value $118.14 |
| Future comp expense | ~$1,683.5 million unrecognized expense for unvested awards; weighted average amortization period 3.4 years |
| Vesting cadence | Unvested awards vest over immediate–5 years; RU vest in service-based tranches; certain AOG unit awards vest over 3 years |
| Dividend equivalents | Cash dividend equivalents paid on RUs as current compensation, subject to vesting; example payments in 2025 |
| Options policy | Firm does not currently grant options/SARs; timing policy would be evaluated if reintroduced |
Governance, Controls, and Clawbacks
- Clawback: NYSE Rule 10D-compliant policy requiring recovery of excess incentive-based compensation for the three completed fiscal years preceding a required accounting restatement; applies to current/former executive officers and to cash/equity tied to financial reporting measures .
- Insider trading: Prohibits hedging, shorting, derivative speculation, margin accounts and pledging without prior compliance approval; reinforces alignment and reduces opportunistic trading risk .
- Say-on-Pay: Prior shareholder support (91.3% approval in 2022) indicates general investor acceptance of pay design for disclosed NEOs; frequency on ballot in 2025 .
Investment Implications
- Alignment and retention: As a long-tenured legal executive with personal co-investment capital at risk and subject to firm-wide hedging/pledging restrictions and clawbacks, incentives appear aligned with durable value creation and compliance rigor rather than short-term equity monetization .
- Selling pressure: Firm-wide unvested awards and multi-year amortization imply a steady vesting pipeline; RUs are delivered net of taxes and dividend equivalents accrue, which can create ongoing supply but Q3 2025 saw no new 10b5-1 adoptions by executives, moderating near-term scheduled selling signals .
- Execution and governance: Her remit spans governance, regulatory, and transactional oversight across multiple Ares vehicles, supporting disciplined growth. Company-level TSR, FRE, and net income gains during her tenure suggest the platform’s performance backdrop is favorable for incentive alignment and retention, though individual pay details for Ms. Sagati Aghili are not disclosed .
Overall, the combination of co-investment participation, strict insider policies, and enterprise clawbacks supports investor confidence in compensation alignment; the principal equity overhang to monitor is firm-level vesting cadence rather than individual selling programs .