General Info

Doug received his MBA and bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Springfield. Doug spent sixteen years with Bank of Springfield, where he served as Vice President managing the Investment and Trust Departments. While at Bank of Springfield, he also served as the AVP of Commercial and Mortgage Lending. In addition, Doug was a committee member on the Asset & Liability Committee, which made decisions about how the bank managed its own money.Doug is the father of three children, and coaches youth baseball and basketball. In his spare time, he enjoys fishing, traveling, and golfing. Doug is an active member of the Springfield Noon Lions Club, serving as a past president and board member. He has previously spent time supporting SPARC, Big Brother Big Sister and the Sangamon Medical Society in various capacities and is a member of the Sangamon Valley Estate Planning Council. With 19 years of banking and financial services experience under his belt, he specializes in financial and retirement planning as a Certified Financial Planner for Skinner, Copper and Ehmen Wealth Management, LLC.Jim attended the University of Illinois as a James Scholar. Upon graduating in 1969 with a degree in math, Jim began teaching in Dwight, IL. He eventually moved to Mt. Pulaski where he taught and coached basketball until 1977, his team winning the State Basketball Championship in 1976. Jim left teaching and joined Northwestern Mutual Life in 1977, becoming one of a handful of pension specialists in the country. In March of 2000, Jim and Ryan left Northwestern to build a more comprehensive planning practice. The independent and flexible structure of this new venture allowed Jim to more effectively use his years of experience as well as the expertise he had attained earning the designations of CFP, (Certified Financial Planner ), and CLU, (Chartered Life Underwriter ). Jim is the architect and implementer of the Confidence Focus Experience, a unique life planning process. This process strives to enable its participants to build the confidence and financial freedom that allows them to enjoy family, hobbies and other personal endeavors. Jim has a singular passion for seeing that his clients have the free time to pursue their hobbies, as he engages in many himself, among them fishing, hunting, and woodworking. Located in in Springfield IL, Skinner, Copper & Ehmen works with clients in all parts of the United States and around the world developing either comprehensive financial plans or specialized tactical planning.Ryan, a father of 3 children, graduated from Western Illinois University in 1998 with a degree in Political Science and a minor in German. He began working for Jim Copper as an Associate Agent in 1999. As the managing partner and Registered Principal of Skinner, Copper & Ehmen, Ryan currently performs data analysis, investment due diligence and technology research to be used in all phases of the Confidence Focus Experience. Since starting his financial career, Ryan has attained his CPA and PFS conferred upon him by the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants ), FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ) Series 6 (Investment Company Products/Variable Contracts Limited Representative ), Series 7 (General Securities Representative ), Series 24 (General Securities Principal ), series 51 (Municipal Fund Securities Principal ), Series 63 (Uniform Securities Agent State Law Exam ), and Series 65 (Uniform Investment Adviser Law Exam ) licenses and graduated from the University of Illinois-Springfield with a Masters in Accountancy. When not attending to business or family, Ryan is one half of the acoustic country duo, "Radiator Charlie".Alice serves as our Director of Client Services. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing and management from Southern Illinois University. With over twenty years experience in client relations, business and accounting, Alice is the follow-through person that makes sure all our