David Barnett is a 1998 graduate of the Williams School of Business and Economics at Bishop’s University, and a graduate of UNBSJ’s Electronic Commerce Management Program.  Since the late ‘90s, Mr. Barnett has been building his profile as an expert in the field of small and medium sized enterprises. 

From 1998 to 2005, Mr. Barnett was a major account representative with the Yellow Pages.  This opportunity gave him an insight into the particular challenges of small & medium businesses as he dealt daily with the owners of these companies.  In 2005, Mr. Barnett left the publishing industry to start a small business with a partner.  Their venture was an immediate success.  After opening, operating and building the business, an opportunity to sell presented itself in late 2006. 

In 2006, Mr. Barnett began building his professional consulting practice by starting Advantage Liquidity Partners Ltd. ALP Ltd. was a broker of commercial debt solutions for small and medium sized enterprises including commercial mortgages, business loans, factoring facilities, and capital leases.  Barnett has arranged such financing for over 100 small and medium sized companies.  Working with entrepreneurs to build their companies and/or acquire other firms naturally led to the field of business brokerage. 

Mr. Barnett joined Sunbelt Business Brokers in 2008.  Sunbelt is the world’s largest network of business brokers with over 300 offices on six continents. In 2009, after completing training and testing over an 18 month period in both Canada and the U.S., Mr. Barnett was awarded his business selling certification from a recognized international body.  In 2009, Mr. Barnett’s company, ALP Ltd. purchased the Moncton Sunbelt office.  Barnett was also the only licensee of the Business Buyer Advocate program in New Brunswick.

After completing an extensive training and testing process in 2009, David Barnett was awarded the CMEA designation (Certified Machinery/ Equipment Appraiser) by the NEBB Institute.  CMEAs are located throughout the United States, Canada and several other countries, and are used by charter banks, BDC, other lending institutions, accountants, lawyers, business buyers/sellers and others to provide needed financial information for a variety of reasons.

Over a 3 year period, Barnett helped intermediate 35 business buy/sell transactions in the Maritimes.  In December of 2011, Barnett sold the Moncton Sunbelt franchise and began managing the corporate card program for American Express Bank of Canada in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.  Barnett delivers ProfitLearn seminars on the topics of buying and selling small businesses and is the author of Invest Local: A guide to superior investment returns in your own community.