When she first traveled to the sunshine state of Florida in1991, she instantly felt in love with the land and the climate. There was a tremendous amount of European business going on: A complete, fast growing infrastructure of European, mostly German-speaking service providers such as realtors, tax accountants, attorneys and many more -- but so far no German bankers. Recognizing the potential of an expanding and very important market segment, she decided to move to Florida, leaving Germany behind.

Her first position was as a Personal Banker for First National Bank of SW Florida. Her main task was to establish and expand the German / European business section. Kirsten recognized immediately that the largest demand by far was the financing component: Getting financing for all the European investors that came to Florida in order to purchase vacation homes or investments. So, within her first year in the U.S. Kirsten started her own company –- the first mortgage brokerage company specialized in serving solely European clients in the entire State of Florida.

It was a huge success from its inception. Her company grew fast and her business model proofed that the market had a tremendous need for it. In 1997, Kirsten opened another company, a marketing company which organized the first German–American trade show on the East Coast of the United States (The G.A.T.E.: German American Trade Exhibition). The exhibiting companies were companies with German products
and services or with products and services that would target the European market. The visitors were European investors and many companies connected to the Europeans. Even the German TV crew from ARD flew to Florida from Washington to broadcast about the trade show.

In 2000, Kirsten wanted to expand the types of services she could offer to the European community. Her idea was to be closer to her clientele. So she sold her company and moved to Munich, Germany. There she opened the first mortgage brokerage business branch, licensed in Florida but outside the country. Again, this was the right thing to do: clients and prospects appreciated the convenience of having the American way of business, full service and all the professional background within their own country, language and time zone. Services not only include residential financing in Florida, but offering full consultation, workshops and seminars, as well as other services like opening U.S. accounts, etc.

Since then Kirsten shuttles between Germany and the United States on a regular basis. Due to this business model her clientele does not have to struggle with long-distance calls, time difference, language barriers and other obstacles. The German office is staffed between 10-14 hours every day to ensure availability for both time zones so her clients can reach her from both the U.S. and Europe all the time. By now, Kirsten and her team are market leaders for financing Europeans in Florida –- with a data base of around 4,500 international contacts.

Due to the fast growing market and the broad range of investment possibilities for European investors, more and more investors kept inquiring about not only residential financing but also commercial lending. Kirsten recognized quickly the potential of this huge, upscale market segment. In order to serve these clients in the same professional manner as on the residential side Kirsten teamed up with John Ramsey II, an experienced expert in the commercial field for more than ten years. Together, Kirsten
and John formed International Lending Consultants, LLC., offering worldwide commercial lending from 5-million-dollar up to multi-billion-dollar projects.

Upon moving to SW Florida in 1997, John started working for Nations Bank (Bank of America) as a consumer banker. In 1999, he left Bank of America and took a management position Atlantic States Bank as a Branch Manager where he was in charge of hiring and starting new in-store branches for this bank (a part of First Citizen’s Bank out of Raleigh, N.C.) Within 9 months, John was promoted to the Regional Manager of 9 branches in SW Florida – working on both Commercial and Residential financing.

In late 2000, John left the bank to work for Benchmark Home Mortgage in Fort Myers, Florida as a licensed Mortgage Broker.

Currently John holds a CMPS designation which he went through extensive class time to attain this designation of Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist. While being very successful on the residential side, John also wanted to expand his business back to the commercial arena. So he started researching commercial lenders and started incorporating commercial loans back into his business.

John loves the challenge of commercial financing. When him and Kirsten Paul started talking about the possibilities, they instantly decided to join forces. This is how they started International Lending Consultants (ILC). With Kirsten´s extensive list of contacts in Europe and in the States, and John´s commercial experience, it surely is a great partnership. ILC offers a few different sources of funds which include Hedge, Insurance, and Private Equity Funds. ILC can finance as little as $1M US to $5+B US worldwide. Also, ILC has energy funds that will look at projects at $25B or more as well.

Throughout his 22 year tenure with CENTURY 21 Sunbelt Realty, Inc. Michael has epitomized what a true professional stands for; honesty, integrity and dedication. With over $260 Million sold to date in real estate, Michael and his team have achieved the honor of "Centurion" as well as "Grand Centurion" status many times. Michael's Team was #10 in the nation in 2001, and #1 in the South Florida Region for 2000 and 2001. Michael is one of the only 20 US Realtors interviewed for the REALOGY training book.

Michael specialized in the Cape Coral real estate market and is very involved in the community. He is a graduate of Leadership Cape Coral, Class of 1999, was the first 4 year Chairman of the "Cape Coral Chamber Foundation", was a Director of the "Cape Coral Council for Progress", was the 2002 Chairman of the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach International Committee, was a board member of the "Cape Coral Community Foundation" and, is the past President of the "European Chamber of Commerce of SW Florida" for 2002 and 2003, and was a director of the "Realtor Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach" for a two year term (2003 - 2004). Michael is a proud member of the first, only 15 head selected community leader group, to become a Cape Coral Community Trustee. In the spring of 2005 he attended Advanced Leadership Cape Coral with the 9g training firm. For 3 years Michael has served on the Board of Trustees of the Southwest Florida Symphony. Since early 2008 Michael is the chairman of the SWFL Symphony Endowment Foundation.

On July 1st, 2006 Michael's Team joined the team of Koffman & Associates at CENTURY 21 Sunbelt, one of the top 10 teams of CENTURY 21 USA. This move enabled him to spread SW Florida real estate to foreign countries, like the Caribbean, the Middle East, Central America, Germany, South Africa and Australia.

Michael also teaches business for Junior Achievement, having done 3 classes at high school and 3 classes at middle school levels.

Michael and Verena love to travel. One of their favorite places is Eastern and Southern Africa and its wildlife. They have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, traveled by 4x4 through Botswana to Victoria Falls and by 4x4 for more than 10,000 miles along the coastal areas of Australia in two different trips. They have done the "Silk Road" from Beijing to Rawalpindi in Pakistan in 21 days by bus, train and plane. In April 2007 Michael and his 3 member team finished the "Heroes Legend" rally from Paris to Dakar in first position (Team 5).

Michael and Verena also are very fond of art. Over the years they have supported Arts for Act many times, even purchasing an original Darryl Pottorf. Their latest acquisitions are two Darryl Pottorf's out of the special artwork series, made by Darryl Pottorf and Robert Rauschenberg in support of the Fort Myers trauma center.

Michael's appointment of Honorary Consul of the Republic of Austria for entire West Florida will be official this fall.

After cutting his teeth in sales at Belfort Furniture and Commonwealth Copiers Steve decided on a lifestyle change in 1990 and moved to Fort Myers Florida. This is where he began his 8 ½ year career with Enterprise Fleet Services. Steve ranked top 5 in the country on several occasions while helping small to medium size companies with their transportation needs and operations. Steve also believes strongly in supporting the industries he works in and was treasurer for the Jacksonville Air Conditioning Association and Gulf Coast Air Conditioning Association in Southwest Florida.

Steve then decided that his interest in the information technology industry was too strong to ignore and proceeded to join Gartner; the world’s largest provider of information on technology. Initially an account manager working with COO’s and CTO’s of Fortune 1000 companies like Pier 1, Interstate Batteries, E J Gallo wine, University of Oklahoma, American National Insurance, and MD Anderson Hospital. After achieving a 98.5% client retention factor he was recruited to help start the inside business development unit and was promoted to the position of Director of Business Development.

After attaining his real estate license and the birth of his daughter Steve decided that he wanted a flexible schedule and became a full time real estate agent in the fall of 2002 and in 2003 earned the diamond award at Sellstate Realtors. He also became a member of the public relations committee and community relations committee for the Bonita Estero Board of Realtors and still holds those positions to date. This is where he crossed paths with John Ramsey. Not only did John help clients of Steve but also financed multiple properties for him personally. This also led to him convincing Steve to get his mortgage brokers license in August of 2007 and to begin to work on the finance side of real estate as well.

The outcome of many conversations and the referral of numerous opportunities was for Steve to join ILC in July of 2008 to take advantage of both his wide array of business contacts and his vision to help the company adjust to changing paradigms. Steve will also be working to acquire new funding sources in addition to what ILC currently offers which include Hedge, Insurance, and Private Equity Funds. ILC can finance as little as $1M US to $5+B US worldwide. Also, ILC has energy funds that will look at projects at $25B or more as well.

When John Ramsey decided to team up with Kirsten Paul, and formed International Lending Consultant, LLC. John and Kirsten invited Thomas as one of the supporting team members of International Lending Consultant, LLC.

Recently Scott has joined International Lending Consultants as a Financial Lending Consultant to bring new commercial business to their portfolio of successful commercial lending transactions, and to continue to grow their business relationships. Scott’s ability to develop strategic alliances, along with a strong sales and marketing background created exponential growth with each company he owned and operated. This business background enables him to understand the intricate details of putting together large business transactions, including proposal development, sales presentations in front of high level executives, and then following through the sales process to the completion of a project. Past clients Scott has developed business relationships with include Abbott Laboratories, Wilson Sporting Goods, Helene Curtis, Northrup Defense Systems, and many large hospital groups, manufacturing companies and privately held companies in Milwaukee Wisconsin.

Scott served on the VAR Advisory Council to Lucent Technologies, later to become Avaya Communications, as an advisor between the Valued Added Reseller community and the management at Lucent and Avaya for development of future products, VAR relationships, and systems for better interfaces with their nationwide network of Value Added Reseller Partners. Scott also served as President of the Porsche Club of America in Milwaukee Wisconsin for several years, and served on the Board of Directors for 10 years. Scott has an active real estate broker’s license in the State of Florida. Scott and his wife Lynn currently reside in Cape Coral Florida.