Seminar Speakers*

Gary A. Melling, CFP™ , CFS, RFC
Personal Benefit Services of Colorado, Inc.

Gary, Co-founder of Personal Benefit Services Seminars, has been in practice since 1973, and has an extensive background in all aspects of financial planning, with particular expertise in planning for Federal Government employees, PERA employees, and financial issues affecting seniors. Along with L. Ronald Blair, Gary co-founded Personal Benefit Services Seminars in 1980. This joint venture, providing educational financial planning seminars to many government agencies and their employees, has had a positive effect on over 60,000 government employees and their families. These seminars are extremely popular and well attended by Federal employees throughout the nation. The sessions focus on investment strategies within the Thrift Savings Plan and how to coordinate these with outside investments. Defined benefits, CSRS, FERS, CSRS Offset, Social Security, deposits, re-deposits, Federal insurance issues, and military issues are also discussed in detail. Gary has been a contributor to Financial Planning Magazine and was selected by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to participate in a Federal Employees Retirement System Master Trainer’s Workshop in 1984.He has received the designations of Certified Financial Planner, Certified Funds Specialist, Certified Senior Advisor, and Registered Financial Consultant. Gary is an active Registered Representative with, and offers securities through, Royal Alliance Associates, Inc., member NASD and SIPC and holds the NASD general securities principal Series 24, Series 7, Series 63, and Series 51 licenses. He also holds separate Colorado Licenses for Life, Accident, and Health Insurance. He has a Bachelor of Science in Education from Dickinson State University in Dickinson, N.D. and Master of Education degree from the University of Toledo, in Toledo, Ohio.

Direct Phone Contact: 303-991-6410

L. Ronald Blair, CIC, CFP™ , CPCU, AAMS
Personal Benefit Services Group

L. Ronald Blair is a Co-founder of Personal Benefit Services Seminars. His extensive background in financial planning, insurance counseling, and business administration reflects his commitment to comprehensive, professional financial planning assistance for employees of educational institutions, government agencies, and other organizations.  From New York to San Diego and from Seattle to Corpus Christi, Mr. Blair is a frequent speaker on the topic of pre-retirement and financial planning. He has contributed to the “Money Wise” column in the Rocky Mountain News and is a frequent contributor to Money Magazine.  Prior to joining the firm, he was a senior account executive with Educators Marketing Service Corporation for seven years.  Today, he is an active Registered Representative who holds the NASD general securities principal Series 24 license, Series 7, Series 63, and Series 51 licenses. He also holds separate Colorado Licenses for Life, Accident, and Health Insurance.  Mr. Blair has received a designation of Certified Insurance Counselor and Certified Financial Planner (CFP™).  He is also a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), signifying completion of a rigorous five-year course of study in risk management.  In addition, he has achieved the designation of Accredited Asset Management Specialist as well as receiving the designation of Certified Senior Advisor in 2003.  He has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Denver, and has pursued graduate business study at Colorado State University.

Direct Phone Contact: 303-238-5123

David A. Melling, CFS,BCAA,BCE
Personal Benefit Services of Colorado, Inc.

 David has been in practice for over 13 years. David has an active role in advising Federal and state government employees on retirement issues, as well as being a regular invited guest speaker at many Federal governmental agency events. Dave, since 1993, has conducted Federal Retirement seminars throughout the country, on a wide range of topics, for Personal Benefit Services Seminars. Additionally, he has extensive experience speaking to, and planning for, PERA employees. He has given seminars on many topics, including the purchase of service credit, 403b strategies, and survivorship options, to several groups, including the Colorado Association of School Executives.  Dave, Board Certified in Asset Allocation and a Certified Funds Specialist from the Institute of Business and Finance in La Jolla, CA., has extensive knowledge of the financial markets which is invaluable in managing investment portfolios. He is active in the due diligence of all investment options offered to clients of Personal Benefit Services, as well as supervising the trading activities of individual accounts. He acts as Lead Portfolio Manager for most of Personal Benefit Services of Colorado, Inc.’s accounts. Dave currently co-authors the monthly newsletter “TSP Comments ”.  Dave is an active Registered Representative with, and offers securities through, Royal Alliance Associates, Inc., member NASD and SIPC and holds the NASD general securities principal Series 24, Series 7, Series 63, and Series 51 licenses. He also holds separate Colorado Licenses for Life, Accident, and Health Insurance.

Direct Phone Contact: 303-991-6411

Sharla D. Rountree, CFP™
Personal Benefit Services Group

Sharla D. Rountree has been actively involved with Personal Benefit Services Seminars since 1988. Due to increased public awareness and consumer demand to be more knowledgeable about investments, retirement concerns, and insurance options, Sharla has taught adult education through a community college on financial planning investing.  She has also conducted federal retirement seminars with Personal Benefit Services Seminars for the past 15 years. Sharla has contributed to the “Money Wise” column for the Rocky Mountain News and co-publishes a quarterly financial planning newsletter, The Dollar Chase. In addition, she works as a corporate and non-profit retirement plan advisor. Ms. Rountree has received the designation of Certified Financial Planner (CFP™) from the College of Financial Planning in Denver, and was a member of the Colorado CFP Education Board.  She is a graduate of the University of Colorado with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Marketing.  She is an active Registered Representative and holds the NASD general securities principal Series 24 license, Series 7, Series 63, and Series 53 licenses.  She also holds separate Colorado Licenses for Life, Accident, and Health Insurance.

Direct Phone Contact: 303-238-5123

Kevin W. Melling
Personal Benefit Services of Colorado, Inc.

Kevin has extensive knowledge of the Federal Retirement systems, as well as expertise in PERA. He takes an active role in the development of comprehensive financial plans for Federal and state government employees. He is an active NASD Registered Representative and holds the NASD Series 6 securities license. He is a separately Colorado licensed life, accident and health insurance agent.

Direct Phone Contact: 303-991-6412

Dianne Benson
Personal Benefit Services Seminars

Dianne retired in October 2004 with over 36 years of experience in the field of human resources, including over 10 years as a Human Resources Officer. Immediately prior to her retirement, she was with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Ft. Snelling, Minnesota, as the Regional Human Resources Officer.  She was responsible for the personnel servicing of over 1500 employees who were located within an 8 state region, which included over 150 field offices and a Regional Office.  Dianne has worked for the U.S. Air Force, Defense Information Systems Agency, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and was actively involved in the closure of 3 military installations and 96 information processing centers located throughout the United States. She has over 25 years of experience consulting and training federal employees and supervisors concerning labor management relations, employee conduct and performance, benefits and entitlements, including retirement, survivor benefits, leave programs, health insurance, life insurance, on-the-job injuries, thrift savings plan, pay, and social security benefits. Her expertise includes optional, early, discontinued service, and disability retirement.

Direct Phone Contact: 303-991-6414

Dennis E. Marshall
Personal Benefit Services of Colorado, Inc.

Dennis has been an Investment Advisor for nearly a decade. Dennis has extensive knowledge of insurance issues affecting Federal and state government employees, with emphasis on Long Term Care planning. He has conducted seminars for over 1,000 government employees on the issues of not only Long Term Care insurance, but life and disability insurance as well.  Dennis has an active role in portfolio management decisions for Personal Benefit Services of Colorado, Inc. His experience in working for a large mutual fund company helps him to assist our client’s in understanding today’s financial industry. Dennis has received the Certified Senior Advisor designation from the Institute for Certified Senior Advisors.  He is an active NASD Registered Representative, and offers securities through, Royal Alliance Associates, Inc., member NASD and SIPC and holds the Series 6, Series 7, Series 63, and Series 65 licenses. He is also a separately Colorado licensed life, accident, and health insurance agent.

Direct Phone Contact: 303-991- 6415