Our Professionals

Malcolm A. Makin, CFP® is President of Professional Planning Group, a Financial Planning and Investment Advisory Firm, which he founded in 1976. In 1989, he joined Raymond James Financial Services, believing that this would enable him to provide superior financial services to his clients. Mal earned his Certified Financial Planner designation in 1981. He is regarded as one of the early leaders in the financial planning movement. He served on the Board of Directors of the Institute of Certified Financial Planners from 1981 to 1986. From 1990 - 1993, he was a member of the Board of Governors of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards. From 1987 - 1993, he served on the National Board of Ethics and Professional Responsibility for Certified Financial Planners of which he was Chairman for three years. He is a nationally recognized author, teacher and public speaker.  Mal is a current member of the Board of Directors of the Westerly Pawcatuck YMCA, serving on both the Camp and Membership committees. He also serves as Investment Adviser for Community 2000, a foundation which provides scholarships to deserving students in the Chariho school district.

He has appeared on numerous television programs and is frequently quoted in a variety of nationally known publications. He is listed in the Who's Who in Business and Finance as well as the 2000 edition of the National Registry of Who's Who.

Mal is an avid golfer and fly fisherman. He is the proud father of four grown sons. He resides in Charlestown with his wife Martha and Redington, their Portuguese Water Dog.


 Kathleen A. Nealon, CPA is Chief Financial Officer of Professional Planning Group, and joined the firm in 1997. Kathy is responsible for the financial health of our company day to day. She has been an accountant for more than twenty-nine years and has a level of expertise in taxation and accounting which is beneficial to our firm and our clients.  Kathy is a member of Professional Planning Group’s Executive Committee and Compliance Committee.  She was previously a Manager at Sansiveri, Kimball & Company, a local CPA firm.

In addition to being a CPA, Kathy is also a Series 7 Raymond James registered representative. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Rhode Island Society of CPA's. She is currently serving as Treasurer of the Dennis Nabb Memorial Foundation.  She is on the Board of Directors and a member of the Audit Committee of the Newport Federal Savings Bank.  Kathy is also involved as a volunteer at her church in Narragansett.  Previously, she served for twelve years as a Board member and later Treasurer at the Adult Day Center of Westerly.  She also served on the Board of Directors of the Westerly-Pawcatuck Chamber of Commerce.

Kathy received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Highest Distinction) with a concentration in accounting from the University of Rhode Island.  She resides in Narragansett with her husband John, and they are the parents of three grown daughters.

Accounting and Tax preparation services are not affiliated with Raymond James Financial Services, Inc.   

Michael T. Ryan CFP®, of Westerly has been a Certified Financial PlannerTM practitioner with the Professional Planning Group since 1987. Mike brings to his practice the analytical skills he developed while earning his Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut (1980) in Educational Psychology with a focus on Measurement and Evaluation. A proponent of Modern Portfolio Theory, Mike works with investment clients to develop portfolios that attempt to maximize investment returns for the level of risk with which each client is comfortable. Mike’s strength lies in his ability to educate clients. He is able to take seemingly complex investment concepts and communicate them to clients in an easily understood manner.

Outside of his practice Mike is busy professionally. He is a member of the Financial Planning Association as well as a current member and former President of the Rhode Island Society of the Financial Planning Association. On a national level, Mike served three years as a member of the IBCFP’s Board of Standards. His published research during that time won the CFP Board Research Article award in 2004.   

Mike served the international financial community for five years during which time he helped CFP affiliates attain their certification in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America.

For over ten years, Mike was a featured guest on the morning television broadcast of local NBC affiliate, WJAR.

Locally, Mike served as president of the Memorial and Library Association of Westerly – that role led to him being chosen as the Rhode Island Library Trustee of the Year; Treasurer of the Katie Decubellis Memorial Foundation; Trustee of the Westerly Land Trust; board member of the Westerly Pawcatuck Downtown Task Force; Co-founder and board member of the Westerly Surf School and advisor to the Academy of Finance at the Westerly High School. He resides in Westerly.   

Donald J. Charbonnier graduated from Dartmouth College in 1955. He began his investment career with Merrill Lynch in 1968 and served in several capacities until 1982. At that time he left for Dean Witter Reynolds, where he established an institutional sales office for that firm in Hartford, Connecticut. Working with the institutional investors he provided information and suggestions for fixed income products; US Government securities; corporate and municipal bonds, as well as money market instruments. During the last several years at Dean Witter, he communicated the firm's equity research and provided equity trading assistance to various institutional accounts. In 1988 Don joined Professional Planning Group as a portfolio strategist and Raymond James Financial Advisor. At Professional Planning Group he works with Mal in developing our quarterly investment newsletter and is available to all the advisors for comments or recommendations. A true news "junkie," he can often be found with his nose buried in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, or Barons.



Peter C. Wallace has over 18 years of experience in the Financial Services Industry. He joined Professional Planning Group as a Financial Advisor in 1998. Peter’s responsibilities include working directly with Malcolm A. Makin, CFP and other members of the team in areas of financial planning, investment management, research, retirement planning services and long term care planning. Peter has helped clients create and grow wealth, protect and preserve wealth, create predictable income streams in retirement and plan for legacy distributions.

Prior to joining Professional Planning Group in 1998, Peter worked for Boston-Based MFS Investment Management. His responsibilities included marketing and servicing their mutual funds and annuity products. An additional two years were devoted to the MFS Retirement Plans Department were he assisted businesses of all sizes in designing and implementing retirement plans.

A graduate of Hartwick College, with a B.A. in Human Resources Management, Peter holds his series 6, 7, 63, and 65 Licenses.

Peter volunteers as a Board Member for Adult Day Services of Westerly. He lives in Essex, CT with his wife Katrina and their daughter Lauren. Katrina maintains a successful dental practice in Essex. Peter enjoys golf, kayaking, paddle tennis and spending time with his family. 

Daniel M. Makin, CFP® joined Professional Planning Group in 2000. He achieved his Certified Financial Planner™ designation in 2003.  He is a Raymond James Financial Advisor at the firm and works with his father and brothers to assist clients through the retirement process and throughout their life times.  Daniel is one of the primary compliance officers for Professional Planning Group and a member of the Executive, Compliance and Investment Committees.

Daniel has done consulting work for the Practice Management Division of Russell Investment Group. The FundFire Survey listed Russell as the top manager due diligence firm for 2009.  Prior to joining Professional Planning Group, He worked at the Mashantucket Pequot Gaming Enterprise. He was a manager and supervised department operations. Prior to that he worked at the Washington Trust Company.

Daniel received his BA degree from Alfred University in 1991 with a dual emphasis in management and finance. He holds his Series 7, 24, 51, 63, and 65 licenses and is a Raymond James Registered Principal.  He has also been a contributor to Newsline, a local NEARI publication for educators.

Daniel volunteers his time at Wood River Health Services.  He serves on the Board of Directors as Treasurer and leads the Finance Committee.  He also volunteers at the Okinawan Karate Institute teaching karate to children.  He is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys time on the water with his children. 

Christopher G. Wallace, CFA, is a financial advisor and investments analyst for Professional Planning Group ( named as one of the top-ranked advisor teams in America by Research Magazine (1) – September 2005 ; September 2004 ).  In this role, he works directly with clients to establish and implement portfolio strategies based upon individual client objectives.  Chris also assists in establishing the firm’s investment strategy and policy.

 Prior to joining Professional Planning Group, Chris was a vice president and portfolio manager with Mellon Financial Corporation’s Private Wealth Management group where he managed $150 million in client assets and provided investment management and trust services to high net worth individuals, corporations, foundations and endowments.

Chris has 18 years experience in investment services.  He holds a BA degree with honors distinction in economics from Hobart College.  He is a graduate of the New England School of Banking’s trust and estate planning program at Williams College and is a member of CFA Institute and the Boston Security Analysts Society (BSAS).  Chris holds his Series 7 and 63 licenses and is a Raymond James Financial Advisor.  He currently serves on the Board of Trustees, and Finance and Investment Committees of the Memorial and Library Association of Westerly including the South County Hospital Professional Advisory Group.  Chris has been a contributor to TheStreet.com, a well-known financial web site and publisher of investment information. 

Eileen M. Esposito earned her MBA from the University of Rhode Island in 1991. Eileen began her investment career in 1989 as a coordinator for international finance conferences hosted by the Pacific Basin Capital Markets Research Center and the University of Rhode Island in Thailand, Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia. In 1994, Eileen joined Dean Witter as an Account Executive working with individual investors, businesses and organizations to analyze their financial needs and identify appropriate investments to meet their goals. In 1996, Eileen joined Professional Planning Group as a Raymond James Financial Advisor. She works closely with the other Advisors to meet individual client needs and monitor portfolio allocation and performance. She is professionally trained and licensed in fixed income, equity and insurance products and holds her Series 7, 63, 65 and Rhode Island insurance licenses.


Lee-Ann Kozora joined Professional Planning Group in 1990. She is a compliance officer with the firm and a registered representative with Raymond James Financial Services. She assists senior management in implementing compliance programs for both broker/dealer regulatory compliance (FINRA) and registered investment advisor compliance (SEC). In addition she plays an essential role in assisting advisors and clients with portfolio management. Ms. Kozora has over 20 years experience in the financial industry and developed her career primarily in the areas of compliance management and client services. She holds Series 7 and 63 licenses and is also a Notary Public in the state of Rhode Island. 

Jennifer L. Redmond of Wakefield, RI, joined Professional Planning Group in 1995. She oversees operations and is a Series 7 Raymond James registered representative. She has 16 years experience in the field.  In addition to her oversight role, Jennifer assists clients in all facets of account relations such as buying and selling securities, retirement account (401K) transfers, stock, bond and mutual fund research, insurance, estate planning and margin and options trading.

Support Staff

Our Support Staff consists of Elisha Riley, Melissa Silva, Diane Nicol and Margaret Brady (not pictured). Their responsibilities at Professional Planning Group consist of general client services such as account distributions, client confirmations, and quarterly mailings and reports. They also prepare cost basis information and answer general questions for clients. In addition, the administrative staff ensures that our database information is up to date and properly maintained.

(1) The Research Magazine’s “The Winner’s Circle, The Top Ranked Advisor Teams in America” based the accolades on qualitative criteria, including: managing partners with a minimum of seven years financial services experience, and other weighted criteria ranging from productivity per partner, credentials, acceptable compliance records and wealth management focus to client satisfaction reports and other data that firms provide. Teams are quantitatively ranked based on an algorithm that weights varying types of revenues, and custodial and non-custodial assets advised by the financial professional, with weightings associated for asset types. The ranking does not consider client portfolio performance.