Acquisition Criteria

Mr. Korsten is a Partner and Investment Committee member of Branford. He has been active in private equity and finance for over 25 years. Mr. Korsten is currently a board member of ABC Industries, Eastern Dental Management, Hoffman Engineering and Testek Solutions. Prior to re-joining Branford, he held senior roles in private equity. Before then, Mr. Korsten was a Senior Managing Director and Investment Committee member at Branford, where he worked for over a decade. While at Branford, he led numerous investments across a variety of industries and held board seats on a number of boards, including notable investments in Surface Preparation Technologies and Pulse Veterinary Technologies. Early in his career, Mr. Korsten was an investment banker focused on M&A, restructuring and capital markets at several investment banks, including Jefferies & Co.

Mr. Korsten graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. and holds an M.B.A. from New York University – Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

Mr. Francis is responsible for sourcing, evaluating, executing and overseeing new investments. He has been with Branford since 2018 and is currently a board member of Eastern Dental Management, Handi Quilter, Hoffman Engineering, and Lafayette Instruments. Prior to Branford, Mr. Francis began his career in management consulting before transitioning to Macy’s where he was a Director focused on Strategy & Marketing. Mr. Francis received his B.A. in Economics from Wesleyan University and earned an M.B.A. from ESSEC Business School in France. Additionally, he was recognized as one of 2020’s Rising Star Dealmakers by the Global M&A Network and was also selected as one of the winners of the M&A Advisor’s 11th Annual Emerging Leaders Awards.

Ms. Yang is involved in the sourcing, acquisition and oversight of new and existing investments and is currently a board member of ABC Industries, GPT Industries, and Marine Floats. Prior to joining Branford in 2018, Ms. Yang worked as an investment banking analyst in the Global Industrials Group at Barclays, where she focused on mergers and acquisitions as well as equity and debt financing transactions. Ms. Yang graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics and concentrations in Finance, Marketing and Strategic Management.