TOP ECONOMISTS
KIMBERLY ATTEBERRY
VERMILION CONSULTING LLC
Kimberly At teberr y is the
president of Vermilion
Consulting LLC. Vermilion
helps various organizations
leverage the benefits of the
EB -5 Immigrant Investor
Program. Vermilion provides expert advice on project
feasibility, EB-5 compliant business plans, job creation
analyses, and targeted employment area analyses. Prior
to Vermilion, Atteberry was the chief economist of U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services. In 2000 and 2002,
she taught economics and marketing at the United States
Air Force Academy as one of a select group of civilian
instructors.
WHY DID YOU GET INVOLVED
IN THE EB-5 INDUSTRY?
In 2009, I was hired by USCIS as the agency’s first economist.
After a short time there, I was asked to launch and lead a new
division within USCIS focused on economic and statistical
analysis. While my duties ranged from procurement oversight,
regulatory analysis to special projects for leadership, my
most interesting task was to train and advise EB-5 adjudicators
on economic impact studies, business plan review and
unemployment analysis. Once I left government employment,
it made sense to incorporate EB-5 work into my overall
consulting practice.
WHAT NEW TYPES OF PROJECTS
AND TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING
IN THE EB-5 INDUSTRY?
The new regulations finalized by USCIS have had an impact
on the industry. The initial impact was a decline in overall
EB-5 activity. However, we are starting to see a little more
movement. The tightened TEA restrictions are clearly
impacting the geography of EB-5. While the higher investment
amounts have dampened demand initially, as investors
acclimate and have time to move capital abroad, we hope to
see more activity. The higher investment amount is not all
bad news—investors can create more jobs with their
investment at the new level.
SCOTT W. BARNHART
BARNHART ECONOMIC SERVICES LLC
Scott W. Barnhart is president
of Barnhart Economic
Ser vices LLC, a consulting
specializing in EB-5 and non-
EB-5 economic job creation
studies, business plans, TEA
designations and legal consulting services. Barnhart is
also a co-owner of Florida First Regional Center and New
York City EB-5 Regional Center. His consulting firm has
supported I-924 regional center applications, I-924A and
I-829 job reporting for dozens of regional centers, resulting
in more than 800 jobs created and TEA reports submitted
to USCIS. To date, the firm has analyzed a wide variety of
projects with capital expenditures of more than $18 billion,
associated gross revenues of $11 billion and job creation
estimates of over 400,000 jobs.
WHY DID YOU GET INVOLVED
IN THE EB-5 INDUSTRY?
Complete chance! I am a professor of finance at Florida
Atlantic University and met my first client as an EB-5
economist in 2007 through one of my students. I was
connected to Alan Hodges, who was the director of Economic
Impact Analysis at the University of Florida, and we have been
conducting economic impact analyses for regional center
projects and clients ever since.
WHAT NEW TYPES OF PROJECTS
AND TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING
IN THE EB-5 INDUSTRY AFTER THE
NEW REGULATIONS TOOK EFFECT?
We have seen a massive slowdown in new project work. Most
in the industry have seen this slowdown coming but were
hopeful for some legislative or other change to prevent it. The
industry is still getting familiar with the new investment
amounts, and especially the TEA changes. The TEA changes
seem to have had the most impact on project marketability.
Many of our projects, and those in the industry as a whole,
have been severely affected by the TEA definition change.
Many projects had this occur midstream during their
fundraising campaign, or even after all the document
preparation had been completed but prior to any fund-raising
activity. All of this said, we have seen a continuation of a
smaller pipeline of projects of the traditional type. We are all
hoping for some positive changes that will help the industry
recover.
EB5INVESTORS.COM
87