Jump to Our Advisors  ~ or ~  Our Staff

Charles Lesko, Jr., CFP^® has been active in financial services since 1956. He is the Vice President of Lesko Financial Services, Inc., a financial planning, insurance brokerage and financial educational services firm, and is President of Lesko Securities, Inc., a full-service brokerage firm and investment advisor. Charlie is a graduate of Binghamton University with a Liberal Arts degree in Humanities. 

A Certified Financial Planner™ certificant, he holds licenses as a General Securities Principal, Municipal Securities Principal, Direct Participation Programs Principal and is licensed for Life and Health Insurance. Charlie is a frequent speaker and lecturer on wealth building and estate planning.

Gary has been a Lesko financial consultant since April 1995. He has many years experience in the financial field and with major insurance firms, in both sales and management. 

Gary currently holds his Investment Company/Variable Contracts Representative, General Securities Representative, Uniform Securities Agent and Investment Company and Variable Products Principal licenses, as well as his Life & Health Insurance licenses. 

Gary is a resident of Johnson City with his wife Diane and daughter Kristine.

Bob has been a Lesko financial consultant since 1984 and is currently a Senior Financial Consultant. He is a graduate of Binghamton University School of Management, with a Bachelors Degree in Management Science. 

Bob currently holds his Investment Company/Variable Contracts Rep, Corporate Securities Limited Representative and Uniform Securities Agent Securities Licenses, and his Life, Accident & Health Insurance License. 

Bob continues to show his commitment to the financial needs of his clients, and his affiliation with Rotary International underlines his commitment to Community Service.

Ed has 23 years experience as an Investment Advisor, wherein 13 years has been with Lesko and a prior 10 years providing investment guidance to a group of private investors. He is the author and producer of "An Advisors' Viewpoint," a newsletter published semi-annually.

Ed is also President/Owner of Personal Financial Concepts, Inc., a consultancy for the Investment Advisory services sector.

He holds several securities licenses including General Securities representative, Investment Advisor representative and Insurance licenses for Annuities, Life, Accident and Health including Long Term Care.

Stephen has been continuously involved in the insurance/ investments business since 1979, joining Lesko in 2002 from a major brokerage firm. He has his Associates degree in Business from Broome Community College and Bachelors degree in Business from SUNY Brockport. Steve also holds an AIC (Associate in Claims) Diploma.

He holds his General Securities Representative, Uniform Investment Advisor and Uniform Securities Agent licenses. Additionaly, he holds Annuities, Long Term Care and Disability, and his Life, Accident and Health Insurance licenses. Steve has also successfully achieved the designation of Chartered Retirement Plan Specialist (CRPS^®) from the College for Financial Planning for completeing an extensive educational program in the administration of retirement plans for businesses and their employees. To date there have been less than 2,300 CRSP^® designations awarded worldwide, giving Steve a marked distinction in the industry.

Joe has been a Lesko financial consultant since 1994. He graduated from Binghamton University School of Management with a BS degree in Accounting and Finance. He served as a Controller with the Hertz Corporation: Truck Division in the seventies, and was a Product Consultant for Interactive Financial Services, a firm providing tax software and services as well as financial planning software to tax professionals in Upstate New York. He then expanded into Financial Planning before joining Lesko Financial Services, Inc. After serving as a financial planner and Investment Representative with a national insurance company since mid 2002, Joe returned to Lesko in 2006.

Joe holds Investment Company/Variable Contracts Representative, General Securities Representative, Uniform Securities Agent and Uniform Investment Advisor licenses as well as Life and Health Insurance licenses. He is licensed in the state of New York and six other states. Joe has been recognized by several fund companies for financial expertise and dedication to the principles of sound investing. Only the top 10% of eligible licensed professionals in the nation receive these awards each year.

Joe has taught securities licensing classes at Broome Community College from 1998 to 2000 and has a strong background in Tax Accounting, Personal Planning and Asset Management. Joe was also an instructor of CFP classes between 2002 and 2004. He is a member of the Financial Planning Association of Upstate New York, Southern Tier Chapter.  

Chris came to Lesko in 2002 after spending two years gaining his extensive investment knowledge with a local national brokerage firm. 

He is a graduate of Broome Community College with an Associates degree in Business Science. A member of the large DiRienzo bakery family, which has been in our Triple Cities are since 1904, Chris holds his General Securities Representative, Uniform Securities Agent and Uniform Investment Advisor licenses and is currently studying for his Certified Financial Planner designation.  

Bill has been a Lesko financial consultant since May 2005. He has a BS Degree in Business from the State University of New York at Oswego.

Bill currently holds his Investment Advisor Rep and Insurance Licenses for Annuities, Life, Accident & Health, and Long Term Care. He is licensed in the states of CA, GA, IL, NC, SC, TN, VA, NY, PA and NJ.

Having started his financial services career in the 1980's, Bill has returned after gaining 18 years of senior management and financial experience in New York City. Bill has held positions such as Vice President of Sales and most recently Chief Operating Officer for various technology companies. Bill resides in Binghamton with his wife Kelly and his two children, Lindsay and Brian.

Diane has over 12 years experience in the financial industry. She graduated with honors from Broome Community College with an Associates Degree in Applied Science. She has her General Securities Representative, Uniform Securities Agent, and New York State Life, Health & Annuities licenses, and a NYS Partnership Plan certification for Long Term Care Insurance.  Her state registrations include NY, NJ, MA, PA, CA, NC, OH, VA, FL.

Rich Pichura has been providing quality, objective advice and excellent service to individuals and businesses in the Binghamton area for the last ten years, most recently with Partners Trust Bank. He holds a BA in Economics from Binghamton University.

Rich holds licenses for General Securities, Uniform Investment Advisor and Uniform Securities Agent. He is also licensed for Annuities, Life, Disability and Long-Term Care Insurance and is certified by New York for the NYS Partnership for Long-Term Care Program.

Rich resides in Maine, NY with his wife and son.

Mike is President of Lesko Financial Services, Inc., a financial planning, insurance brokerage and financial educational services firm. He provides significant guidance to the development and growth of Lesko with his vast knowledge, expertise, and dedication to the principles of good investing. Mike holds an Associates Degree in Accounting from Broome Community College.

Mike is an accomplished musician of over 45 years with a main interest in percussion instruments. He is also an avid golfer.

Having started his career with Lesko Financial in 1983, Greg Lesko returned in 2002 after gaining over 14 years of financial and legal experience outside the Southern Tier, practicing law in Albany, NY and supervising a legal department for a national mortgage servicer and federal savings bank in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Greg is a 1981 graduate of Binghamton North High School. He received a BA from Binghamton University in 1985 and a Juris Doctor from Albany Law School at Union University in 1988. He is admitted to practice law in New York State and the U.S. Tax Court.

In addition to performing his duties as CEO, Greg is an investment advisor, licensed in the states of NY, FL, PA, CA, MA, MD, NC, OR, GA, AZ , DE, NM, NJ & VA. He holds several securities licenses including General Securities Principal, Options Principal, Investment Advisor Representative and Insurance licenses for Annuities, Life, Accident and Health and is a certified NYS Long Term Care Partnership insurance agent.

Greg can be seen answering television viewer’s personal financial questions on the weekly Newschannel34 Wednesday at 5 "Ask the Advisor" segment.  

Joining us in 2005, David has had a career as General Manger for several businesses including Law Firms and Real Estate Brokerages, as well as Fiscal Coordinator / CFO for non-profit agencies. He has an MBA in general business & finance as well as an undergraduate degree in literature and is licensed as an Introducing Broker-Dealer Financial and Operations Principal. His duties include financial administration of the business operations for Lesko Financial Services, Lesko Securities and C&M Lesko Realty, as well as Human Resource management and development. 

Relocated from New Jersey in 2002, David now resides in Binghamton with his wife, Desiree.

Karen been Operations Manager since 2003. She currently holds her Assistant Representative - Order Processing, General Securities Representative, Introducing Broker-Dealer Financial and Operations Principal, and Uniform Securities Agent licenses. She is also pursuing the General Securities Principal license. Additionally, she has received her Associates in Financial Services degree from Broome Community College.

Karen overseas back office operations and compliance of state and federal regulations. She is also responsible for training newly assigned sales assistants.

Ellen has been Insurance Files Manager with Lesko since 1988. She is a retired bookkeeper from the Towns of Conklin and Kirkwood, New York.

Carla joined Lesko in February 2002. She has a strong background in administrative and clerical fields. She joins our team after having seventeen years of dedicated service with Endicott Johnson Footwear, Inc.

Carla enjoys camping and cooking as hobbies.

MaryRose, a Binghamton native began her employment with Lesko in 1992 and has worked as the company Database Manager since 1994. She has an AA in Liberal Arts from Broome Community College and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA from Binghamton University.

A graduate of Binghamton University with a degree in Economics, Bill entered the financial services field 14 years ago with a local banking institution. He served several years in the investment services department of a local independent planning firm and has been with Lesko since January of 2004.

Bill lives in Apalachin, NY with his wife, Marcia, and their two sons, Clark, age 19 and Neil, age 11. He is an avid coin collector and is active with the Boy Scouts organization.

Joe joined the Lesko team in March of 2004 as Bob Hartung's sales assistant. He previously worked in the back office as operations assistant.

Essie joined the Lesko team in 2005 as our securities filing clerk, moving up to administrative assistant in June of 2006.

Judy joined the Lesko team in 2006. She is primarily responsible for securities filing.

Chris has been the Operations Assistant since April 2003. He has his BS in Business Administration from Montclair State College.

Chris is currently working on his Series 7 Securities License.

He is actively involved in his community as a volunteer firefighter in Harford, PA as well as coach for his town's girls softball team.

CFP^® , CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and are certification marks owned by Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. These marks are awarded to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.