John Westerfield: Founder and Managing Member | Tumblr
@johnwesterfield
After 23 years at Morgan Stanley, John Westerfield retired to pursue his interests in commercial real estate properties and securities as a private investor. He maintains an office in Harrison, NY where he actively reviews local investment opportunities in the commercial real estate area. He also is an active investor in REIT securities for his own personal account. During his 23 career at Morgan Stanley, John Westerfield served numerous roles. After joining the firm in 1985, he worked in the Institutional Securities Division of Morgan Stanley, a global securities firm. His primary area of expertise was in the area of financing large commerical real estate properties such as office buildings, shopping centers, hotels and warehouse properties. After a promotion in 1993 to Managing Director, John Westerfield helped to found Morgan Stanley's commercial mortgage backed securities group, of which he became the head and ran it's operations globally for several years.. Supported in his professional duties by a strong education, John Westerfield studied at Dartmouth College and Harvard Business School. He holds an AB with honors from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Away from his professional duties, he enjoys a variety of outdoor sports. These include adventure sports like skiing and ski racing. He also enjoys quieter outdoor sports, including golf, fly fishing and sporting clays. During his leisure hours, John Westerfield enjoys reading American literature and world history. He also enjoys developing a more nuanced understanding of his field by studying economic history.
John Westerfield completed his Master of Business Administration in General Management at the prestigious Harvard Business School in 1985. Prior to this, he completed a Bachelor’s degree in Government at Dartmouth College, located in Hanover, New Hampshire. John Westerfield graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1981.
Senior commercial real estate executive John Westerfield has held managing director positions with Morgan Stanley and Braddock Capital Management. Outside his extensive background in commercial property lending, John Westerfield is an active supporter of organizations that increase educational opportunities for young people.
Mitsui Fudosan America’s 50 Hudson Yards Development
An accomplished New York City business leader who lives in the nearby village of Bronxville, John Westerfield has served as a managing member of Braddock Capital Management since 2008. For the past 19 years, he has concurrently served as senior advisor to the board of directors at Mitsui Fudosan America.
One of Mitsui Fudosan America’s recent undertakings is the 50 Hudson Yards office tower, which is currently under construction in the rapidly evolving Hudson Yards neighborhood on Manhattan’s West Side. Hudson Yards has earned a reputation for its unique and exciting mix of residential, business, and leisure enterprises.
Designed to set a “new standard” for the contemporary office building and serve as Hudson Yards’ flagship tower, 50 Hudson Yards sits at the main entry point into the neighborhood. When completed in 2022, the building will span 58 stories and offer 3 million square feet of prime office space.
50 Hudson Yards will house offices for Facebook and other leading corporations. Built according to gold LEED certification standards, the tower will feature amenities ranging from private sky lobbies to on-site employee bicycle storage.
In addition to leading commercial real estate and REIT securities investment projects as a managing member of Braddock Capital Management, John Westerfield aids the commercial real estate ventures of Mitsui Fudosan America as senior advisor to the company’s board of directors. Outside of the professional environment, he is involved with a number of community and charity initiatives. John Westerfield has supported the SkillsUSA program at Roosevelt High School in Yonkers, New York, for 5 years.
As part of its efforts to promote and expand the United States’ skilled workforce, SkillsUSA has developed a range of programs to help prepare students for future success in the technical, trade, and skilled service sectors. It works with students from middle school to college.
Integrated into established institutions of learning at the local level, the organization’s high school programs have firm roots in the SkillsUSA Framework, which benefits from extensive research into common workplace and employment practices. Centered around 18 essential elements of professional success, the SkillsUSA high school program has led 70 percent of its participants to higher GPAs and 83 percent of its alumni to promotions and pay increases.
Educational Programs at the Reformed Church of Bronxville, New York
Guiding clients in various real estate investments, John Westerfield is a managing member of Braddock Capital Management in Harrison, New York. As one of his service commitments, John Westerfield is a board member at the Reformed Church of Bronxville.
Originally a 17th century gathering place for Dutch settlers, the church became incorporated in 1850. It moved to a new facility in 1926, and its reach has grown from the immediate neighborhood to the Tri-State Area. It offers a variety of educational programs for children and adults.
Emulating Jesus’ love of children, the church includes them in Sunday classes and worship. At 10:30 a.m., kindergartners and pre-kindergartners go to class, while first through eighth graders join the worship service until a special Chancel Talk (children’s sermon). They then rejoin their younger peers. In addition, third graders learn about the church’s sacraments of baptism and communion, and eighth and ninth graders can receive formal instruction through a confirmation class.
Many members take part in adult education classes on Sundays from 9:25 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Other offerings include The Well, a Bible study group that meets on Sunday afternoons, and women’s meetings on Wednesday mornings that cover sacred texts and spiritual material. Friday mornings are devoted to studying the scriptures that will be used for the next sermon. Rounding these out are monthly book club meetings and twice-weekly yoga sessions.
Alongside his successful career in investment banking and capital management, John Westerfield has a documented history of supporting educational programs serving youth in New York City. In addition to serving as an advisor for the SkillsUSA chapter at Roosevelt High School, John Westerfield financed the program for 5 years after a loss of funding.
SkillsUSA is a national organization that works with private businesses and workforce development organizations to deliver career training programs for students in middle school, high school, and college. The organization's mission is to equip students with the skills needed to thrive in the 21st century workforce and give back to their communities. Every SkillsUSA program is based on the organization's three-pronged framework.
All participants are provided with training to develop technical and workplace skills. This includes computer skills, professional development, leadership, and collaboration skills. In order to ensure that participants are competitive in the workforce, SkillsUSA programs also help students develop in-demand soft skills such as agility, strong work ethic, and personal responsibility.
A longtime managing member of Braddock Capital Management, John Westerfield possesses more than three decades of experience in commercial real estate lending and REIT securities. John Westerfield is also a proponent of increasing educational opportunities for disadvantaged young people through school choice. He has previously supported organizations that advocate for school choice, including Student Sponsor Partners and EdChoice.
The school choice movement calls for public tax revenue to be reallocated to families to go toward the education option of their choice, which could be public, private, publicly-funded charters, or homeschooling. In states that allow school choice, parents may qualify for one of four approaches for distributing tax funds for tuition.
Parents can open Education Savings Accounts, which are funded directly by the government and can be used to pay for private schools, enrichment programs, or tutoring. Voucher systems work in a similar manner, and allow parents to pay for private school tuition using public funds. Parents may also qualify for deductions or credits on their state income tax if they paid for education fees and other educational materials out of pocket.
The History and Achievements of The Community Fund of Bronxville, Eastchester, Tuckahoe
A former member of the Board of Directors of The Community Fund of Bronxville, Eastchester, Tuckahoe, John Westerfield helped to lead and support an organization with a history of more than 90 years in serving nonprofits in Westchester County, New York. The Fund began in 1919 as The Community Welfare Fund, Inc., a group offering assistance to the Lawrence Hospital Center, The Associated Charities of Eastchester, and various other charitable and welfare agencies.
Over the subsequent years, The Community Fund of Bronxville, Eastchester, Tuckahoe underwent numerous name changes and participated in widespread fundraising and humanitarian work. The Fund helped local communities during the Great Depression and World War II, and contributed to the National War Fund and the United Service Organizations (USO). Today, the group donates funding, administrative support, organizational assistance, and other services to more than 25 agencies and projects that benefit the community, including the Bronxville Senior Citizens, The Counseling Center, Inc., and the Concordia Conservatory of Music and Art.