Meet Our Team
Rick Nixon: President
Rick
began Cumberland Financial Group in 1991, using his extensive
experience in the financial services industry and the concept of
offering comprehensive service to his clients. He has been in the
Financial Services business for 25 years.
Rick attended the University of Houston and graduated from East Texas
Baptist University, playing Varsity baseball at both schools. He and
his wife Kathy have a daughter Kelsey who attends Texas Woman’s
University and two sons, Ryan and Reed. They are members of Cumberland
UMC in Smyrna. Rick’s hobbies include golf, coaching baseball, and
running.
Rick holds the professional designations of Enrolled Agent (EA) and
Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC). He is on the faculty of HD Vest
Investment Services Financial Planning Institute, and he is Chapter
Director for the Atlanta area for HD Vest Investment Services. Contact Rick: rick@cfgforyou.com
Carey Green: Accounting Consultant
& Registered Rep
Carey has been with Cumberland Financial Group since 1997. He wears many hats: tax preparation, accounting, and financial services.
Carey is a graduate of University of West Georgia. He and his wife Mary have a beautiful 4-year-old daughter Kaci and a son born in February named Wheeler. Carey is a Registered Rep and Insurance-licensed with HD Vest Investment Services. His hobbies include golf, flag football, softball, and watching and playing all sports. Contact Carey: carey@cfgforyou.com
Ramona Oakley: Tax Manager
Ramona came to Cumberland Financial Group in January, 2006, with many years of experience in tax preparation and management. Ramona recently completed the requirements to become an Enrolled Agent (EA).
Born in San Francisco, she actually lived on Alcatraz before moving to Indiana where she grew up. Later she attended Indiana University Southeast with a concentration in Business. She now lives in East Cobb with her husband Tom and four children (Erin, Kristen, David, and Mark). In addition to spending time with her family, Ramona loves sports, especially football and baseball, and she enjoys reading, cooking, poker with the girls, and trivia games.
Gordon Swanson: Business Specialist
Gordon
was previously a partner in a large regional CPA firm. After selling
the existing practice to a local firm, he became the Controller for a
retail division of Blue Cross Blue Shield of GA. After retiring from
BCBSGA, Gordon became a stockbroker with an investment firm.
Gordon is married to Susannah Swanson, and together they have 5
children, and six delightful grandchildren. They are members of Saint
Peter and Saint Paul Episcopal Church in Marietta, where Gordon serves
as a member of the Vestry for that church. Gordon is an avid hunter
and a member of River Bend Gun Club.
Gordon is both a CPA and A Certified Financial Planner and is
responsible for business consulting, business tax planning, and
business tax preparation at Cumberland Financial Group.
Jay Jay Holloway: Receptionist
Jay Jay is the newest addition to CFG. She ensures positive rapport and individual service through phone and face-to-face contact. A Marietta native, Jay Jay attended Lassiter High School and the University of Georgia. She enjoys golf, remodeling, travel, and UGA football. Go Dawgs!! Ultimately, her passion is her family: her husband, Preston, two dogs (Walker and Pheobe), and two cats (Tiffany and Callie).
Peggy Thurmond: Financial
Assistant
Peggy started working at Cumberland Financial Group in 2002, as a seasonal employee doing data entry of tax returns. After 3 tax seasons, she joined CFG as Financial Assistant in 2005.
She is a graduate of Clemson University and lives in Kennesaw with her husband Walt and son Joseph. Her older son Stewart is a UGA graduate and teacher at Harrison High School.
Peggy’s interests include sewing, boating, and gardening.
Dianne Paluga: Bookkeeping
Dianne has been working
part-time at Cumberland Financial Group since 2001. She is a graduate of Kennesaw State University, majoring in
Business Management.
She and her husband Don live
in Smyrna, along with their daughter Danielle. They are members of Smyrna First Baptist Church where they sing in the
Chancel Choir and are active in other programs in the church and community. Danielle is an International Baccalaureate
student at Campbell High School. They
love to travel, especially to the House of Mouse (Walt Disney World in
Orlando).
Contact Dianne: dianne@cfgforyou.com
Dennis Harding: Staff Accountant
Dennis began his second career (at CFG) in 2005, after retiring from Delta Airlines. He grew up in Portland, Oregon and has lived with his wife Beverly in Smyrna for 30 years. They have three grown daughters, Jill, Linley and Allison. They are long-time members of Smyrna First UMC.
Dennis is a past President of the Smyrna Optimist Club, and is active in the Smyrna Community. He is an avid hunter and is a member of the Butts County Sportsmans Club.
Dwain Begitschke: Accounting Consultant
Dwain received his accounting degree from the University of Georgia in 1987 and passed the CPA exam in 1994. He started his career at a large local CPA firm where he performed a variety of bookkeeping, accounting, tax and auditing services. He later became the Controller at an apparel wholesale company before working at a nursing home management company where he prepared Medicare and Medicaid cost reports. Dwain and his wife started a consulting business at the beginning of 2005. Dwain has performed the temporary Controller functions for a variety of businesses including a law firm, continuing care retirement center, vending-machine company, retail restaurant and a start-up wireless company. He has also provided bookkeeping services and training, business start-up assistance and individual and business tax preparation for a variety of different people in many different industries.
His wife Micki is the CFO at Wesley Woods, and they have a son Erick (freshman at Cumberland Christian Academy) and a daughter Amanda (7th grade and home-schooled). They are members at Bethany United Methodist Church where they help teach Sunday school and participate in the athletic activities. Dwain enjoys golf, softball, coaching baseball and anything else that gets him some exercise. He also enjoys doing things with his family including going to ball games, the zoo, field trips and teaching them all about life.
