Tony Ressler

Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Ares Management

Tony Ressler co-founded Ares Management L.P., a publicly traded, leading global alternative asset management firm with approximately $87 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2015, in 1997. Ares operates four investment groups that invest in tradable credit, direct lending, private equity, and real estate. Ares currently has approximately 800 employees with offices in Atlanta in addition to its headquarters in Los Angeles and other offices in New York, Chicago, Dallas, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Stockholm and Shanghai. Ares Management’s current portfolio includes investments in several Atlanta area-based businesses including Floor & Décor Outlets of America, Inc., Serta Simmons Bedding, and Insight Global.

In the nonprofit sector, Ressler serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (“LACMA”) and as a member of the Board of Trustees of Georgetown University. He is also one of the founding members of the Board and Co-Finance Chair of the Painted Turtle Camp (affiliated with Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Association), which serves children dealing with chronic and life-threatening illnesses by providing old-fashioned camping experiences.

In the charter/public education sector, Ressler is a Founder and Board Co-Chair of the Alliance for College Ready Public Schools in Los Angeles. Since 2004, the Alliance has grown to 26 free, public charter middle and high schools serving approximately 11,000 students from LA’s poorest communities with historically underperforming schools. Four Alliance schools have been named California Distinguished Schools and three are ranked in the top 10 of all LAUSD schools. More than 90% of Alliance graduates have gone on to college.

Ressler received his B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and received his MBA from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.

Tony and his wife, actress Jami Gertz, have three sons.