Thomas Ernst, Managing Partner

Mr. Ernst has almost 20 years experience in senior positions in the Real Estate field and possesses a wide network of contacts in the Real Estate sector in Europe.

From 2005 to 2007 Mr. Ernst was the Real Estate Advisor to the CEO of Telecom Bulgaria, the former state-owned monopolist.  He was charged with restructuring Bulgaria's largest property portfolio, several thousand central locations all over the country.

He was the co-founder and owner of a Real Estate investment company with 350 commercial and residential units in the center of Berlin and an invested volume of over 20 million Euros.

Between 1993 and 1996 Mr. Ernst was the Managing Director of one of the largest German commercial property development corporations with a total of over 2 billion Euros in Real Estate assets.

From 1990 to 1993 Mr. Ernst headed central Real Estate sales at the Treuhandanstalt in Berlin, the German Government's fiduciary organization which was charged with privatizing all the property assets of the former East Germany.  He led a team and negotiated annual sales in excess of 1 billion Euros. 

Mr. Ernst holds a law degree from Heidelberg University, a BA in Economics from Freiburg University and is fluent in six languages.

D. James Barton, Managing Partner

Mr. Barton is the co-founder of Genesis Financial Group, Inc. (GFG).  He manages the investment banking activities of GFG plus acquisition, disposition, development and management of properties leased to federal government agencies throughout the United States.  Together, he and co-founder Gregg S. Barton have formed the father and son team which has structured more than 20 separate private placement unit investment trusts owning real estate and a publicly registered US $25 million REIT holding federal government leased properties.  Subsequently, the REIT was renamed Government Properties Trust and raised US $190 million in its fully underwritten follow-on offering in January 2004 (NYSE GPT).  He represents GFG in consulting agreements with international banks regarding the investment by those institutions in U.S. federal leased government properties.

He is the managing member of American Government Properties, LLC and Genesis Development Group, LLC which currently have over ten US Government buildings under construction.  He also uses his experience to establish joint ventures with international investors, including Gen-Net US Government Lease, SA, a Costa Rican Corporation whose stock is sold on the Central American exchanges.

Prior to the formation and development of GFG, Mr. Barton was President and Senior Partner of a medium-size Detroit law firm, directly responsible for the closing of over $2 billion of real estate transactions. 

Mr. Barton is a graduate of Wayne State University and the University of Michigan and is licensed to practice law in Michigan and Florida.  He is a licensed Michigan real estate broker.