Ashish K. Lal

Ashish Lal is a partner at BDT & MSD Partners where he originates and executes investment and advisory opportunities and serves as Asia Pacific coverage lead. He's worked exclusively with founder-led and family-controlled companies for the past 15 years on matters ranging from direct investing, capital allocation, and M&A to governance, next-gen development, and founder/family transitions.

Domestically, Lal has been involved in several of the firm’s consumer-sector investments, including Tory Burch, KIND Snacks, Lou Malnati’s, Panera Bread, and Whataburger. Internationally, he has been involved with the firm’s investments in DBG Health (Australia), Fortress (Hong Kong), and an affiliate of Tata Capital (India/Singapore). Lal began his career at LEK Consulting (US, UK, and Japan), advising companies on growth strategy and M&A. After that, he was based in New York at Charlesbank Capital Partners, the former private equity arm of the Harvard Management Company, where he worked on investments in the manufacturing and consumer products sectors.

He serves on the boards of Northwestern’s Roberta Buffett Institute, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and World Business Chicago. He graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in applied mathematics and economics, and from Wharton with an MBA.