Aries I Acquisition Corporation (Aries) has appointed Andrew Lester to its Board of Directors, and Chris Perry to serve as an adviser to the Board.
Lester has over 40 years of experience building and managing businesses. Along with his brother Mitchell, he built a 10-person team at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) that specialised in providing research coverage to hedge funds, family offices, and managing retail capital for 17 years. After DLJ was sold to Credit Suisse, the Lester Brothers’ team moved to ABN-AMRO where Andy was Managing Director and Co-Head of Hedge Fund Sales and Research.
Subsequently, Leser was COO of Sigma Capital, a division of SAC Capital Advisors, and later a Portfolio Manager at the firm responsible for investing in syndicate deals globally. Lester has also served as COO of Convector Capital, was the co-founder of two hedge funds, and was Co-Head of Origination & Investments at ShareNett, a multi-family office investment platform.
He earned a BS in Accounting from Brooklyn College, a MBA from the State University of New York at Albany and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York.
Perry is a highly experienced CEO, digital entrepreneur and digital marketer. Currently, he is Co-Founder of Machine Capital, an investment and incubation company focused on building the leading quantum and artificial intelligence ventures that apply advanced technologies to solve previously intractable human and business challenges.
Perry founded one of the first UK digital marketing agencies in 1996 and built it into one of the largest UK specialists, which was later acquired by Razorfish. When Razorfish was ultimately sold to Microsoft, Perry was retained by Microsoft to lead the enterprise sales team across their key clients.
Subsequently, Perry created one of the first joint venture startups with WPP and Fabric, which built digital marketing automation platforms and data unification capabilities for WPP’s top ten clients. He also led the UK office of Wunderman. He is also an active investor and advisor to both early and growth-stage companies in the data-centric/AI/ Machine Learning sectors.
Aries Founder and Chairman Thane Ritchie says: “We have assembled a phenomenal team that combines deep understanding of the complex, interconnecting, and overlapping dynamics of emerging technologies with exceptional expertise in the financial markets. We are thrilled to have the benefit of Andy’ and Chris’s insight and advice as we continue our search for exceptional investment opportunities that are well positioned for outsized growth and sustainable profits.”
