Robert Stern, Founder and Managing Partner of Castle Hill Investors, has a 30-year real estate background, encompassing finance, investments, portfolio and asset management, workouts, development and general management. He has invested in all property types throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Castle Hill serves along the continuum between a real estate operating company and an investment management firm. Investing alongside local and product based "operators", Castle Hill connects capital to real estate in ways that bridge the capital/operator divide — providing investors access to deal flow and an asset management capability that limited partners often lack, a fiduciary overlay that may not exist at the operator level, and industry, capital markets and business skills to augment those of its operating partners - thereby​​​​​
​​​​delivering a true value proposition to all constituents.

Previously, Mr. Stern was a Managing Partner of Perry Capital, a multi-billion dollar hedge fund. At Perry, he was co-founder and Managing Partner of Perry Real Estate Partners, a global real estate private equity vehicle designed to make equity investments in real estate assets, portfolios and operating companies, purchase discounted notes and sub/non-performing debt and securities, and provide mezzanine and bridge financing. Prior to that, Mr. Stern served as a Managing Director of Blackacre Capital Management, the real estate arm of Cerberus Capital Management, a multi-billion dollar private investment management firm. Earlier, he was Director of Asset Services at BDG, Ltd., a privately held, Long Island based commercial real estate firm, where he was responsible for the Asset Management division. Before that, he was associated with Kemper Corporation where he served as a Director and Senior Asset Manager in Chicago, and Barcelona, Spain, with responsibility for the financing, management, administration and disposition of real estate investments, as well as a real estate development business unit. Over his career, Mr. Stern has invested in and financed several billion dollars of real estate assets and companies globally.

Mr. Stern has been a member of the Board of Directors for several privately held real estate companies. He currently serves on the Management Committee of GHC Housing, one of the five largest affordable housing companies in the U.S, and on the Investment Committee of Peninsula Investments Group, a Latin America investment fund focused on workforce and middle class housing development. He is a full member of the Urban Land Institute, a founding member of Columbia University's Business School Real Estate Circle, and an Advisory Board member of The Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate at Columbia University. Mr. Stern holds a BA from Connecticut College and an MBA from Columbia University.

Kristin Svenningsen is the Managing Director of the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate. Prior to her appointment at Columbia Business School in 2014, Kristin spent several years working in commercial real estate for SL Green Realty Corp (SLG), focusing primarily on tenant and building operations, managing all occupied and unoccupied office space for the SL Green wholly owned subsidiary, Emerge212 Boutique Office space; supervising expansion and development of new Emerge212 Centers, and overseeing 200+ tenant relationships across a myriad of industries.  While still at SL Green, she was able to redirect her focus to marketing and sales; building brand recognition, generating new business opportunities and leasing over 150,000 sq. ft. of office space, comprised over 250 individual offices.  Concurrently, Kristin received her M.A. in Higher and Post-Secondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She earned a duel B.A. in Mass Communication and Theatre from Towson University, and in the years prior to her career in real estate, worked in the entertainment industry as a casting professional for Broadway and Off-Broadway Theatre (Manhattan Theatre Club and Second Stage Theatre) as well as Network Television (Showtime and The CW).