then Add to Home Screen.
A new industry liaison has joined NGAUS to help facilitate the association’s relationship with its industry partners.
Max Casteleyn, who most recently worked at the Pentagon on the Joint Staff as a strategic planner, joined the association on Aug. 3.
“Max’s skillset, professional and life experiences make him uniquely qualified for this position,” said Luke Guthrie, director of industry relations and development. “He personally understands the critical roles that industry has within the framework of the National Guard and is committed to providing insight, leadership and superior customer service to NGAUS corporate partners.”
A native of northern France, Casteleyn entered the active-component Army through ROTC after graduating from the Virginia Military Institute.
He served as an artillery officer starting in 1997 and deployed to Kosovo in 1999. He then moved to Illinois and joined the Illinois National Guard in 2001.
He deployed to Kuwait in 2004-2005 as a company commander of a transportation unit providing theater-level transportation in Iraq. He deployed with another transportation unit again in 2007-2008 as the battalion’s support plans officer.
In 2011, he deployed with Illinois’s State Partnership Program partner Poland to Afghanistan.
In the civilian world, Casteleyn has held a variety of jobs, including a stint as a deputy sheriff in Lake County Illinois, a claims liability representative with ELCO Administrative Services and a domestic sales manager with Mack Defense LLC.
It was his experiences with the defense industry and an obsession with customer service that attracted Casteleyn to NGAUS.
“I’m passionate about the Guard and passionate about business support for American defense, and together the two makes us powerful,” he said. “There are great ideas in the Guard and in industry, if we marry those up, we can all succeed together.”
Casteleyn lives in Springfield, Virginia, with his wife Maggie, who is a consultant; and their two children Ryan, 13 and Andrew, 11.
