Senior Staff

Peter Castagna, Chief Executive Officer

Peter Castagna is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Nassau Asset Management. He has well over 30 years experience in Leasing and Portfolio Management and is considered an entrepreneur and early leasing pioneer amongst the banking community.

Hastings Capital, a business Peter created in 1974, was spawned to develop vendor relationships and finance equipment purchases for credit worthy lessees. Hastings' sales force called on vendors and manufacturers spanning multiple asset classes including aircraft, construction, medical, woodworking, and more. Hastings quickly became an originator for multiple banks and their leasing subsidiaries. The company went public and the grew until 1980, when interest rates peaked over 20% and the general leasing industry was adversely affected. As such, he decided to wind-down operations and run off all existing portfolios. Peter remained managing operations by collecting delinquent accounts, coordinating repossessions, remarketing, negotiating end of term deals, and collecting deficiency balances.

As his portfolio and workload slowed down, Peter returned to his contacts in the banking community. This time instead of marketing lease paper he called offering effective portfolio management skills and services he developed for his own needs. Leasing was still in its early stages and he found himself and his skills in demand. Peter then created Nassau Asset Management in 1986 to best accomodate the upward workload trend.

Ed Castagna, Company President

Edward Castagna is President of Nassau Asset Management and has over 18 years experience in all areas of asset management. Ed's specialty is his expertise in remarketing strategies and liquidations.

Castagna has helped liquidate the assets of thousands of distressed companies since joining the firm in 1991. He is particularly knowledgeable about using an alternative to auctions, known as orderly liquidations, to maximize return on liquidated assets.

He is Nassau Asset Management's President, responsible for managing internal operations and a growing staff while working on behalf of clients. His accomplishments include transforming the brick-and-mortar business into an e-commerce-enabled company. Castagna was instrumental in the conception, design, production and marketing of www.nasset.com, a global Web site for remarketing assets. He also was involved in the development and enhancement of NASTRAC, an online system that keeps Nassau customers informed, in real time, about the repossession and sale of used equipment.

Castagna graduated from Syracuse University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. He is also on the Board of Directors of ELFA (Equipment Leasing and Financing Association) and is the Vice President of the Tender Loving Care Foundation.

Andrew Hayes, Vice President of Asset Management

Dan Potts, Vice President of Receivables Management

Dan Potts is Vice President of the Receivables Management unit for Nassau Asset Management, based in Wrentham, MA. His group provides collections and complete recovery services for equipment leasing and finance companies across the nation. Potts heads up all aspects of Nassau's collections process and manages client relationships. He has 20 years of commercial collections experience, including 15 years within the leasing industry.

Prior to joining Nassau Asset Management, Potts held a variety of collection management positions including 3 years with Credit Clearing House out of New York, and 9 years with AT&T Capital Leasing Services in Westboro, Mass. During his last three years at AT&T Capital, Potts served as AVP of Portfolio Management and Recoveries. He directed operational efforts for a $100 million bad-debt collection portfolio, including collection agency and legal charged-off account outsourcing. Prior to his employment at AT&T Capital, Potts worked for Data General Corporation in Westboro, Mass.

He co-authored industry published articles on collection outsourcing strategies and developments in 2004 and 2005. You can read these articles below:

May 2004 Monitor Article
May 2005 Monitor Article

Potts graduated from The University of New Hampshire in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He is active with Cystic Fibrosis fundraisers, and resides in the Norfolk County Massachusetts area with his wife Stephanie and three children.

Richard Walikis, Manager of Information Technology

Richard Walikis is the Manager of Information Technology at Nassau Asset Management. He oversees all technology functions at Nassau which include new development, research, and integration of corporate technology-based initatives. He has over 20 years experience in information technology and scientific engineering fields.

Prior to joining Nassau in March 2006, he served as Senior Engineer at Navisite Corporation where he functioned as Chief Technical Strategist and lead engineer for a number of commercial and governmental websites. Prior to Navisite, he held various senior engineering and scientific positions at Dames & Moore, Galson Corporation, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and the Pennsylvania State University.

Walikis graduated from The Pennsylvania State University in 1990 with a Master of Science in Meteorology and from The State University of New York College at Oneonta in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science in Atmospheric Science and a minor in Water Resources. He is a current member of the American Meteorological Society and of the National Meteorological Honor Society, Chi Epsilon Pi.

Denise Castagna, Marketing Coordinator

Denise Castagna is the Marketing Coordinator for Nassau Asset Management. She builds new client relationships by coordinating the design and distribution of promotional materials, and by exhibiting and attending tradeshows and other association events around the country. She also acts as a liaison between Nassau's asset recovery and sales teams and their clients.

Denise brings to the position wide-ranging experience in business, sales, education, and building public-private partnerships.

She is a member of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), the United Association of Equipment Leasing (UAEL), the National Association of Equipment Leasing Brokers (NAELB) and has recently been placed on the board of the Eastern Association of Equipment Lessors (EAEL).

Denise holds a Masters degree from Adelphi University in Garden City, NY.

Steve Reid, Account Relationship Manager

Steve Reid is an Account Relationship Manager at Nassau Asset Management. He is located in California to better serve our clients primarily in the Western part of the country.

Prior to joining Nassau, Steve has spent over twenty-five years in the equipment leasing and financing field. From 1989 to 2007 he was vice president in charge of the Indirect Marketing for Santa Barbara Bank & Trust. In 2007, the entire division including the portfolio was sold to a financial conglomerate and was eventually dissolved. Prior to Santa Barbara Bank & Trust he spent time marketing lease financing to the end user, at Heritage Leasing Corporation and Pacific First Federal Savings, aka Triple C Leasing.

Steve earned the designation of CLP (Certified Leasing Professional) in 1996. He has served on the Board of UAEL (United Association of Equipment Lessors) in 2006 and 2007 and has been a Regional Chairman for the association in the past. He received his B.S in Business Administration from California State University, Northridge. He resides in Orange County, California with his wife Janell. They have two children.

Perry Faraclas, Account Relationship Manager

Perry Faraclas is an Account Relationship Manager, charged with maintaining stellar client service, while developing new client relationships.

The first half of Perry's career represented a steady ascension in the equipment sales arena, moving from sales leadership to finally becoming a Heavy truck Dealer & serving, as president of Baltimore Freightliner Inc. During this period Perry served this vocation with superior client relationships 7 increases in market penetration.

In 1987, after satisfying goals in the franchise environment Perry commenced employment as VP of Sales for Intek Financial Corp., in Northern New Jersey. As Intek grew Perry moved up the ladder to president. His time at Intek was highlighted presiding over Sales, Collections & Asset Management. As the portfolio wound down Perry began a search for new challenges which finally predicated in his joining Nassau Asset Management in his present position.