Gale Bensussen

Industry Advisor

Gale Bensussen has been a member of the North Castle team since 1997, bringing more than 40 years of vitamin, minerals, and supplement industry experience and knowledge to our portfolio. He currently serves as the CEO of Doctor’s Best, a former North Castle portfolio company, and was a founding partner and President of Leiner Health Products. Under his leadership, Doctor’s Best has had strong financial performance and has experienced growth across its customer base, which helped lead to the partial sale of the company to a strategic raw materials supplier in 2015, 14 months following North Castle’s investment. During his 32 years with Leiner Health Products, Gale facilitated one of the early leveraged buyouts, participated in a public offering, and transitioned the company to private equity. At both Doctor’s Best and Leiner, he was instrumental in building a portfolio of companies that achieve strength in their categories while making inroads into new markets. His legal experience in regulatory affairs and corporate governance has served as an invaluable asset during his tenure on the boards of Leiner Health Products and Avalon Natural Products, as well as trade organizations such as CHPA and CRN. He has also served in numerous capacities at the University of Southern California (USC), including the Board of Trustees, President of the U.S. Alumni Association, Chairman of the School of Pharmacy Board of Councilors, and President of the Alumni Presidents Council. He co-founded the University’s “Bensussen Translational Research Laboratory,” dedicated to converting pharmaceutical research into accessible and beneficial health products. In addition, he founded Coral Street Partners, a nutritional products development firm focusing on women’s health, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Southern California Chapter of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association and previously served on the Board of Directors of Avalon and Healthnotes. He is a graduate of the USC Marshall School of Business and the Southwestern School of Law, and a member of the California Bar Association.