About Us

Gary A. Melling, CFP, CFS, RFC

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.

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David A. Melling, CFS, BCAA, BCE

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

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Dennis E. Marshall

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 government employees on the issues of Long Term Care insurance and Estate Planning. 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. Dennis currently co-authors the popular "TSP Commentary/Models" newsletter.

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Kevin W. Melling

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.

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Specialists

Sharon Evans, RP, CCO, Operations Manager

Sharon, our Chief Compliance Officer and Operations Manager is responsible for ensuring and maintaining federal and state regulatory compliance, as well as managing our office operations and administration. Sharon holds the NASD Series 7, 66, 24, 51 and 4 securities licenses, and has obtained the Registered Paraplanner (SM) designation through the College for Financial Planning. She was designated Chief Compliance Officer for Personal Benefit Services of Colorado, Inc. in June, 2005.

To contact Sharon, please call 303-991-6418

Shawn Novotny, Investment Representative

Shawn, a Registered Investment Representative, hold the NASD Series 7 and 66 license and is also a Colorado licensed insurance producer. His prior banking experience complements his roll as a financial professional and one of the companies lead traders. Shawn assists the Portfolio Managers in making the day-to-day investment decisions.

To contact Shawn, please call 303-991-6419

Jessica Bohling, Seminar Coordinator/ Executive Assistant

Jessica coordinates our open enrollment and agency seminars. She manages all registrations, responds to calls and emails inquiring about seminars, and assists with the day-to-day functions of the seminar process, along with maintaining the PBS website. Jessica also organizes client “Contact Us” requests for TSP updates.

To contact Jessica, please call 303-991-6408 or 1-800-892-2632

Beth Melling, Cost Analyst & Financial Processor

Beth, our Cost Analyst & Financial Processor, handles all aspects of seminar costing and billing.

To contact Beth, please call 303-991-6409

Travis Evans, Document Management Services

Travis, our Document specialist, administers our optical document and retrieval system. He is responsible for document storage and optical management.

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