Vernon Hall, one of The Leonard Financial Group, LLC founding members, has more than 35 years’ experience in accounting and financial services. He received his Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license in 1967, earned his Certified Financial Planner TM certification (CFP®) in 1985, and received his Personal Financial Specialist (PFS) designation in 1995.

Vern came to Riverside in 1963 and began his accounting career with local CPA firm, B.R Sharp and Company. In 1969, he co-founded a CPA firm, Purl and Hall, which later merged with a CPA firm named James Morris and Company to become Morris, Rodgers and Hall. Later the firm became Hall and Macher, which eventually merged with Swenson and Clark to become one of its four offices. Vern is a member of the California Society of CPAs (Citrus Belt Chapter), a member of that society’s State PFP Committee, and is a past PFP Committee chairman in the Citrus Belt Chapter. He is also a member of the AICPA’s PFP Division, and a member of the Institute of Certified Financial Planners. He was a founding board member of the Riverside Chapter of the International Association for Financial Planning, and a previous adjunct faculty member for the College of Financial Planning in Denver, CO. Vern has served as chairman of the board for Parkview Community Hospital.

Community service is important to Vern, who’s been involved in that pursuit for most of his career.

He’s served on the Board of Directors for the local affiliate of the National Lung Association, was on the Joint Powers Commission to build Riverside City Hall and the Raincross Square Convention Center, and has served on gift planning bodies at the University of California, Riverside and the Community Foundation of Riverside.

Vern is an avid reader in his leisure hours, and he enjoys visits from his five grown children and six grandchildren. He and his wife enjoy vacationing at their home in Ireland.

"People have asked me about retiring, but I don’t want to retire. Because of the importance of the work we do, I really love it," Vern says. "It’s so rewarding to help clients achieve financial independence. My main concern is helping those clients who are interested in having a sense of control over their finances, and bringing them to a point where they able to say that in the long run everything will work out fine."

"We have a financial mission. And I feel like a missionary sometimes."