Team

John S. Castle is responsible for managing Branford, including all activities of the Branford funds. Mr. Castle is and has been a Board member of various companies owned by Branford, including Carmel Car and Limousine Service, Earthlite Massage Tables, Vitrek, and Titan Production Equipment. Prior to joining Branford in 2002, he was a Director of Business Development at Airwave Wireless (an Idealab! Company, the leading Internet incubator in the early 2000’s). Prior to that, he was an Analyst, M&A at Dillon Read & Co. John S. Castle received an A.B. from Harvard College, where he was a John Harvard Scholar (top annual academic achievement) and Cum Laude graduate. He also started at running back on the Harvard football team. He received an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Riverdale Country School in New York City, and is a Trustee of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York.

Mr. Castle’s primary responsibilities are deal execution, post-acquisition oversight and fund administration. Mr. Castle is and has been a board member of various companies owned by Branford. Prior to joining Branford in 1996, he was a Regional Director for Santa Fe Steakhouse, a casual themed restaurant chain headquartered in Ohio. Prior to that, he was a Risk Management Specialist with GE Capital/Monogram Bank. David Castle received a B.A. from Skidmore College (Phi Beta Kappa) and a J.D. from the Cornell Law School with a concentration in business law and regulation. David Castle is licensed to practice law in the state of New York. He is a member of the Big Apple Gold Chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization. Mr. Castle has been a member of the Board of Trustees of Skidmore College and a member of its Alumni Association Board of Directors, as well as an officer and member of the Board of Trustees of the Caedmon School in New York City.

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.

John K. Castle is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Castle Harlan, Inc., a private equity firm which has employed more than 42,000 employees, as well as Branford Castle, Inc., a private merchant bank. During his business career, John has owned or controlled companies such as Delaware Management, the seventh largest independent money manager in the United States; Ethan Allen, the furniture manufacturer and retailer; Ames True Temper, the nation’s leading manufacturer of longhandle tools; restaurant chains such as The Morton’s Steakhouses and Sealed Air Corporation which makes the ubiquitous plastic bubble packaging material. John is a Life Member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

Prior to forming Castle Harlan in 1986 and Branford Castle Inc., he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, Inc., one of Wall Street’s largest investment banks. He also served as a director of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U.S.

Starting in 1969, as Chairman of DLJ’s Merchant Banking and Sprout Group, Castle was one of the founders of the institutionalization of the private equity business utilizing limited partnerships as a vehicle for pension funds and other large capital sources to invest.

John has also committed a substantial portion of his time to public service over the past forty years. He has been elected a life member trustee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has served as a Director of the MIT Investment Management Company. He has also served for twenty-two years as a Trustee of New York Medical College, including eleven of those years as Chairman of the Board. He is also a Life Member of The New York Presbyterian Hospital Board of Trustees; an advisory director of the DuPont Corporation Investment Management Co. He is also a trustee and chairman of the Executive Committee of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and is a member of the Finance Council and various other entities associated with the Archdiocese of New York. Previously he was Chairman of the Columbia-Presbyterian Health Sciences Advisory Council and has served as a member of various Harvard University Visiting Committees including the Harvard Business School. Further in the medical field, he has published various titles related to family health including America’s Top Doctors and New York’s Top Doctors.

In his recreational time, John is an adventurer. Since 1993, he has landed in a small plane on the North Pole as well as the South Pole, trekked to the base of Mount Everest in Nepal and has led his Hinckley sailboat on a circumnavigation of the Earth, leaving from Palm Beach, Florida in April 1993, going through the Panama Canal, across the Pacific and Indian Oceans and up the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. On December 16, 1995, the boat completed its trip around the world having crossed the Atlantic and returned once again to its port of origin in Florida.

But his adventuresome spirit continues and in 2006–7, he recreated the entire Lewis and Clark water expedition from St. Louis, MO to the Pacific Ocean (a total of 3,100 miles) in a 15ft dinghy. In 2007-8, he completed the river trip across the United States in his small inflatable going from New York Harbor to St. Louis via the Hudson River, Erie Canal, Allegheny, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers (a total of 5,000 miles).

John received his bachelors degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his MBA as a Baker Scholar with High Distinction from Harvard and four Honorary Doctorate degrees.

John’s residence is in Palm Beach, Florida where in 1995 he acquired and refurbished an oceanfront estate that was owned for 62 years by the Kennedy family and was variously known as the Kennedy Compound and JFK’s Winter White House. After 20 years of ownership, he sold the house in May of 2015 for $31.0 million.

Mr. Pittaway is Vice Chairman and a Senior Managing Director of Castle Harlan and has been with Castle Harlan since its founding in 1987. Prior to joining Castle Harlan, Mr. Pittaway was a vice president for strategic planning and assistant to the President of DLJ. Before joining DLJ, he was a management consultant in strategic planning with Bain & Company in Boston, Mass., and previously was an attorney with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius specializing in labor relations. In addition to being on the board of various Branford portfolio companies, he is a board member of The Cheesecake Factory, Caribbean Restaurants, LLC and Shelf Drilling, Inc., and has also served on the boards of numerous other Castle Harlan portfolio companies, including American Achievement Corporation, Statia Terminals Group N.V., Morton’s Restaurant Group, and United Malt Holdings Inc. Mr. Pittaway’s community interests include being a director of the Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Research of America. In addition, he served for twenty years in the United States Army Reserve and, upon retiring as a Major, he co-founded and acts as a director of the Armed Forces Reserve Family Assistance Fund, which provides needed support for families of American service members whose breadwinners are serving their country in overseas conflicts. He is a graduate of the University of Kansas (B.A. with Highest Distinction), and has both an M.B.A. with High Distinction (Baker Scholar) and a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard University.

Mr. Reddington manages the financial, administrative and accounting operations of a global portfolio of companies. Prior to joining Branford in 2010, he was CFO of Synergy Workplaces, a provider of flexible workplaces. Prior to that, Mr. Reddington was CAO of NY Mortgage Trust, a mortgage REIT listed on the NYSE, where he oversaw all financial accounting, operational accounting and budgeting, SEC reporting and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Mr. Reddington received a B.S. in accounting from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He is a Member of the American Institute of CPAs and is a Certified Public Accountant.

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.

Mr. Christie is involved in the sourcing, acquisition, and oversight of new and existing investments. Prior to joining Branford in 2023, Mr. Christie worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he focused on growth strategy as well as turnarounds. Mr. Christie graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.

Mr. Morrison is involved in the sourcing, acquisition and oversight of new and existing investments. Prior to joining Branford in 2023, Mr. Morrison worked as an investment banking associate in the Private Capital Advisory Group at Harris Williams (previously known as Sixpoint Partners), where he focused on providing bespoke liquidity solutions to private equity firms. Prior to Harris Williams, Mr. Morrison worked as an investment banking analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets in the Building Products and Paper & Packaging Groups, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions as well as equity and debt financing transactions. Mr. Morrison graduated from Babson College with a B.S. in Business Administration with concentrations in Finance and Computational and Mathematical Finance.

Mr. Bucey is involved in the sourcing, acquisition, and oversight of new and existing investments. Prior to joining Branford in 2025, Mr. Bucey worked as an investment banking associate at BDA Partners, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions across a variety of sectors. Prior to BDA Partners, Mr. Bucey worked in the Assurance and Strategy & Transactions groups at Grant Thornton. Mr. Bucey graduated from Texas A&M University with a B.B.A. in Accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Mr. Sebel is a Senior Advisor to Branford Castle Partners and was previously a Managing Director at CHAMP Private Equity, having been with the firm from 2005 until 2014. Immediately prior, Mr. Sebel was a Managing Director at Castle Harlan for seven years. Mr. Sebel is experienced in all aspects of private equity investment including deal origination, realizations and fundraising in both the United States and Australia. Immediately prior to joining Castle Harlan, Mr. Sebel worked at Goldman Sachs & Co. in its Capital Markets Group. Previously, Mr. Sebel spent two years as Special Advisor to the Hon. Nick Greiner AC, a former premier of New South Wales, and commenced his career in the Management Consulting Services Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers (Australia), where he also qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Mr. Sebel is currently chairman of Boss Engineering Pty Ltd., a director of Shelf Drilling Ltd. (OSE: SHLF), Sunless (Australia) Pty Ltd. and Riverina Fresh Holdings Pty Ltd., as well as holding various advisory and investment committee appointments. Mr. Sebel has a Bachelor of Commerce (First Class Honours) from the University of New South Wales, an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Ms. Camille Peña helps oversee and manage the financial, compliance, administrative and accounting operations of Branford Castle’s global portfolio of companies. She is responsible for direct interaction with accounting personnel in all portfolio companies to enable timely monthly, quarterly and annual financial reporting. She is also the point person for the consolidated financial information as well as an integral part of the annual audit and budget processes. Prior to joining Branford in 2010, she was a Senior Fund Accountant at NCH Capital. Prior to that, Ms. Peña was AVP at Deutsche Bank AG, Americas. Ms. Peña received a B.B.A. degree in Managerial Accounting from Hofstra University.

Ms. Swinea is the Executive Assistant & Office Manager of Branford Castle. She oversees the day-to-day office operations, coordinates all corporate events, and assists with other key company activities. Before joining Branford Castle in 2023, Ms. Swinea worked as an EA at Brown Advisory, a Baltimore-based wealth management firm; she was also an equities trader with Schonfeld Securities. Ms. Swinea graduated Cum Laude from NC State University with a BS in Finance, Economics minor.