Mr. Pruitt is a Partner in the Ares Finance and Accounting Department, where he focuses on strategic long-term business planning, financial planning and budgeting and forecasting initiatives. Additionally, Mr. Pruitt serves on the Ares Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council. Prior to joining Ares in 2016, Mr. Pruitt was a Vice President at Visa Inc., where he led teams responsible for the financial support and management of Visa's Global Merchant Sales and Solutions Group. Previously, Mr. Pruitt held several finance leadership positions across Visa's Corporate Strategy, Marketing, Sales and Product functions. Prior to Visa, Mr. Pruitt performed a similar role supporting the Intel Inside® marketing program at Intel Corporation, where he focused on finance operations support, accounting, cost management and marketing strategy. In addition, Mr. Pruitt worked for the Chicago office of The Boston Consulting Group. Mr. Pruitt holds a B.S. from Stanford University in Industrial Engineering, an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Finance, Strategy and Organizational Behavior, where he was an Austin Scholar, and an M.E.M. from McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University.