Art Ernst

Art Ernst brings to Byrne Asset Management over 25 years of investment experience.

Upon graduating  Rutgers College, where he earned Highest Distinction in Economics and the 1981 Eugene E. Agger Memorial Award as the top economics student in the graduating class, Art developed information systems and portfolio management tools as Assistant to the Chairman of a $5 billion Wall Street-based investment group.

Upon attaining his M.B.A. at  the Wharton Graduate School of Business, Art moved into institutional money management, serving as portfolio manager of a $350 million government bond fund and a $250 million hybrid pool of stocks and high yield and convertible bonds. He also served as the firm's economist, providing counsel and analysis to other portfolio managers, fund boards, and through shareholder correspondence to almost half a million clients. In early 1987 Money Magazine cited Art for his management of the government securities fund, which in 1986 was the second best performing fixed income fund in the country.

In 1989, Art was brought into the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton to manage its $900 million fixed income portfolio. After two years, partly out of a desire to run a company like those in which he invested, and partly out of opportunity due to the recession of 1990-91, Art purchased a small textile manufacturer in Hopewell, NJ. Over the next seven years, he led that firm to nearly 20-fold growth. During those same years, Art continued to manage investments for private clients and advise retirement plan sponsors.

In 1998, Art sold the textile firm and expanded his private client consulting business, then renamed Ernst & Forster Inc. Though focused in finance, providing investment counsel and setting up pension plans, Ernst & Forster also developed websites, produced a host of corporate literature, and guided marketing efforts of 2 firms that led to multiplicative growth. Intellectually drawn once again 100% into investments, Art served a stint at Merrill Lynch before coming on board at Byrne Asset Management.

Art's wife, Sharon, works in the Economics Department of Princeton University. They have two children and reside in Lawrenceville, NJ.   Art's volunteer work includes service as a scout leader, church treasurer, tutor, and coach in multiple sports.