E-mail may be directed to any Chapter Director, Officer or Chairperson who has listed their e-mail address under Chapter Contacts or Chapter Directors.

DIRECTOR Biographies:

Alice Berly - Chapter Director, Treasurer, Newsletter Editor

I have been an investor for the past 30 years and a member of NAIC/BI since mid-1991 when I joined the Rich Ms I investment club. I have served the club for many years as their Financial Partner. I became a director of the Las Vegas Chapter of NAIC/BI in 2000. I have served as Treasurer, Newsletter Editor and Instructor; classes offered have included "Club Accounting" and "Portfolio Record Keeper" (now known as "Portfolio Manager"). I have attended numerous NAIC conventions & CompuFest learning opportunites throughout the years.

Following the fire at the old MGM (now Bally's, where I was an income auditor from their opening in December 1973 until their fire on November 21, 1980) most of the hotel employees were suspended while the hotel was closed for seven months. During that time I went back to school, by August of 1983 I had my Associate Degree in Applied Science (accounting) from Clark County Community College (now CCSN). From there I went on to a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) from UNLV in 1985, my undergraduate degree was in Finance with a concentration in Investments. I continued on at UNLV for my Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 1987. From there I became Financial Administrator for the U.S. District Court, District of Nevada and retired from that position in December 1997. Since then I have been active in both the Las Vegas area chapter of NAIC/BI and the National Active Retired Federal Employees (NARFE).

Tom Berly, Librarian, Web Site Editor, past President

I am a college graduate with a degree in Business economics (major), accounting (minor), and a degree in Computer Science programming (major). I have been involved in investing for over 40 years, and am currently a long term member of both BetterInvesting (individual member) and the American Assoc. of Individual Investors (life member).

My work experience has been primarily with advertising agencies, automobile firms and banks, in the financial area.

Like most investors, I learned in the school of hard knocks. Loses for the most part are due to listening to others, gut feelings and inattention to what I was doing. Successes came as a result of hard work, attention to detail, age and experience, and in a small way, to those gut feelings.

Over the years I have attended a number of national conventions, CompuFests, investment and education fairs, plus Las Vegas Chapter educational classes. You are never too old to learn. I have been a chapter director since 2000, have attended many educational classes taught by other directors and have team-taught a Basic Investing class.

Marty Blonn - Chapter Director, Computer Software Contact, BITS

I worked for IBM for 31 years in various technical and management capacities and retired in June 2000. In the fall of 1995 I and 9 other IBM'ers formed the Blue Skies Investment Club. I have been their treasurer since the club's beginning. None of the charter members had

much experience with investing so we began with education being our number 1 priority.

The Beardstown Ladies were our initial inspiration and we joined NAIC to further our education. Today our education, and camaraderie keep the group together and oh, yes, we have made some small gains from our portfolio as well.

I became a chapter director in 2005 and have attended educational classes given by other directors, and my first Director's Training & CompuFest in Reno in June 2006.

Laura Lippold, Chapter Director

I became interested in investing when American Association of University Women had a study group about women and their money. We organized an investment club and had training sessions on Saturday mornings until everyone could fill out a SSG. I bought my first stock with a broker at this time. It was 1980. My stock proceeded to have a takeover. I doubled my money, and bought a diamond ring.

Now I reinvest. I attended my first National convention in Dallas. I went to National several times in the 80's. Each time I asked why Las Vegas didn't have a council. At one convention I filled out a slip suggesting an article on women and investing in Las Vegas. I was called by Ladies Home Journal. We had two paragraphs. Later The R. J. interviewed us and we had half a page.

The market was booming and we had a large waiting list for our club. I started visiting groups and talking about investing and the SSG. During this time I met Bill Agster's brother. With a nudge from Agster, National decided we had enough clubs and helped us organize the first council. I became one of the first directors. I have taught classes as a director and have attended many national conventions and CompuFests.

Ron Plummer, Chapter Director, VP, Clubs Contact

I spent 33 years in Sales as a Regional Manager for a national Door, Hardware, and Material Handling Mfgr. Then I became the Sales Manager for a local sub-contractor for 7 years. I joined the Desert Speculators Investment Club in January 2000 and became familiar with the Toolkit software, SSG, and Value Line. My clubs activities included being Secretary for 2 years and then Vice President/Education Officer for the past 1-½ years. I have been tutoring new club members on the BI basics, Tool-kit software, SSG analysis, and Value Line. I've attended the chapter meetings for two years and then became a director in July 2005.

I attended the NAIC Intermediate SSG Analysis class in San Diego, CA. in May 2005 and the BI Financial Fitness seminar in Irvine, CA. in May 2006. I also attended the Director's Training and CompuFest in Reno, NV in June 2006. I continue to attend any local classes and visit local investment clubs.

Bernadine Schneider, Chapter Director

My working life began as a country school marm in rural Davenport, Iowa. Then marriage (hired man next door), four sons to educate, finally my own BA in Psychology, Masters in Sociology and lastly, and best of all - a Certified Financial Planner. Took me 5 years to finish all the required sectors for that. An interest in investments was the inevitable result of the CFP rating & that led to NAIC.

In that era, Las Vegas was ANTI-everything but gaming. Other investments were considered not much more than aberrations. In spite of that, or maybe because of that, I started the first NAIC council in Las Vegas. At that time, only a dozen investment clubs existed and even Ken Janke thought we'd never make it.

It took a lot of hard work, more determination than even we thought we had, and I have kept old records to prove it. What you won't find are computer sheets. By the way, Lois Larson (now a former director) was one of our directors.

I have been to many national conventions, CompuFests and taught many classes as a director.

Jennifer Sheldahl, Chapter Director, President, Web Site Editor

I began learning about personal finance and started investing on my own in mutual funds in 1993 as a complete novice. In 1997, several of us women started a BetterInvesting investment club in Henderson. I have been its treasurer since 1999. It has gone from 22 members down to 7, 5 are still from the original group. We use Value Line and the Stock Selection Guide for presentations. I started my own online brokerage account in 1998.

I started attending chapter meetings in 1998 & assisted with the two Investors Fairs put on in Las Vegas. I joined the board in 2000 & attended my first CompuFest that July. I took director training (Train the Trainer) in 2002. I attended CompuFest in 2006. I have sat in on classes taught by other directors. I team taught a Beginning Investing Class.

Nigel Wilkinson, Assoc. Director (8/06)

My career has been in the restaurant business for 20 years. Fortunately it has presented me the opportunity to work in such places as Louisville, Kentucky, Hamilton, Bermuda, the Big Island of Hawaii, St. Petersburg, Russia, and Las Vegas Nevada.

Investing became a hobby of mine in the mid 1990's. Peter Lynch, and his book Learn to Earn (page 136) introduced the NAIC (BI) to me. Shortly thereafter Ijoined the Desert Speculators Investment Club in 1998.

My first exposure to the Stock Selection Guide (SSG) as doing it with pencil and paper while watching a BI instructional video, play rewind, and play rewind. Since then I have done thousands of SSGs, first by inputting data from value line sheets and finally now using the S&P data service.

As for authors I enjoy the afore mentioned Peter Lynch, Benjamin Graham, Charles Carlson, and David and Tom Gardner to name a few. Also I enjoy books on financial history such as Morgan: American Financier by Jean Strouse, and Titan: The life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow.

The principles of BI are the basis of my investment practices, 1) Invest regularly, regardless of the market outlook, 2) Reinvest all earnings, 3) Invest in growth companies and 4) diversify to reduce risk.

Thank you to all those involved who have and continue to give freely of their time and energy to the cause of BetterInvesting.

Chapter Officer

Jennifer Sheldahl, President
Web site editor

702-293-1551

Chapter Contact

General Information, Chapter Contact

702-293-1551

Chapter Directors

Alice Berly, Director
Treasurer & Newsletter

702-452-5733

Tom Berly, Director
Web Site Editor, BI Mag. contact

702-452-5733

Marty Blonn, Director
Secretary & Computer Software

Laura Lippold, Director

702-363-1132

Ron Plummer, Director
VP & Clubs Contact Person

702-364-8344

Bernadine Schneider, Director

702-293-1968

Clem Rybacki, Associate Director

702-242-6778

Nigel Wilkinson, Associate Director

702-897-3137