As a seasoned CEO, accomplished entrepreneur and executive coach, Dr. Kastner balances his time among activities that he loves including academic teaching in at least six countries and nine universities, interaction with students around the world and management consulting. Since 2006 he has devoted his academic contribution to HULT International B ...
As a seasoned CEO, accomplished entrepreneur and executive coach, Dr. Kastner balances his time among activities that he loves including academic teaching in at least six countries and nine universities, interaction with students around the world and management consulting. Since 2006 he has devoted his academic contribution to HULT International Business School as an active faculty member, speaker for the school, handling special projects to market and enhance the visibility of Hult Internationl Business School and recruitment. Some of his most popular HULT course offerings are: Management Practices, Management of Family Owned Businesses, Global Operations Management and Management of Start Ups and Growth. His courses are consistently popular with students—young professionals and experienced managers alike—and are ranked by students as “essential” for understanding the business world. Since teaching is his first love, Dr. Kastner prizes this high praise as a proud accomplishment and compliment.
Dr. Kastner has served on the Board of both large and small organizations and currently participates on three boards (foreign and domestic). Currently he serves as CEO and Founder of First GTK, LLC. (Parent company to REDITUS International, Inc., and GTK I, LLC.) based in Miami, Florida. FirstGTK and REDITUS International focus on bringing Strategic Consulting, Talent Strategy, Executive Coaching, Strategic Implementation and Risk Management to the Energy, Retail, Banking and Education industries with an emphasis on family owned businesses and the importance of service excellence. GTK I, LLC manages investments in ongoing concerns for turnaround purposes, and start-up ventures. The client base of these companies spans North and Latin America. During the last decade Dr. Kastner has been instrumental in improving the Management and Governance approach within several family owned businesses. While some projects are confidential his sample client list includes: Casa editorial El Tiempo; Grupo Capriles; Casa Hellmund; El large Food and Beverage group; Cemex; and a medium size technology and hospitality group.
Throughout his career, which encompasses a unique and dynamic mix of experiences in academia, management, and innovative entrepreneurial experiences, he committed to the deployment of knowledge and shared experience. This commitment manifested by his professional dedication to three key areas: management consulting, executive education and MBA teaching. Dr. Kastner has implemented forward looking new and innovative approaches within organizations and developed programs that are practical and results-oriented to coach and train C-level managers. More recently he focused on Latin-American countries (Colombia and Venezuela), the United States (concentrating in the Southeast U.S.) with occasional projects in Eastern Europe (The Chech Republic) and the Middle East (Dubai). In addition to his teaching on both of the HULT campuses in the U.S., recently his teaching engagements have taken him to Venezuela, Colombia, Dubai, China, Israel, and The Czech Republic. in MBA programs and Advanced Management Programs and equivalent graduate programs.
Dr. Kastner has a rich portfolio of experiences in generating value in service industries like Educational Institutes, Health care delivery, Commercial banking, Entertainment, Franchising and Hospitality. He brings a balanced pragmatic and vision driven approach to consulting engagements and adds strong strategic content to his Board positions through participation and advice.
Dr. Kastner has lived in six countries throughout North and South America, the Middle East, Europe; worked in 22; taught in six; and fluent knowledge of four languages plus working knowledge of two more. He currently serves on the Board of three firms in Venezuela, Colombia and the USA. Dr Kastner earned his Engineering degree cum laude in 1971, his M.Sc. degree with distinction (1973) and Ph.D. (1980) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.