May 19, 2025 • 27 mins
What happens when a seasoned business development strategist blends corporate expertise with an unwavering passion for community service? You get Peter Leighton—a visionary professional who has spent over two decades turning altruism into action, and business into a vehicle for deep social impact.
In this episode of the Visual Eyes Podcast, host Chris Baker welcomes Peter Leighton, Client Relationships Specialist at Palermo, Landsman & Ross (PLR), for a truly transformative conversation. Peter's path has taken him from the halls of higher education and senior care centers to nonprofit boards and strategic CPA leadership. But behind his professional titles lies a deeply personal story of resilience, gratitude, and service.
Listeners will hear how Peter:
- Mobilized thousands of college students to engage in hands-on service across the country.
- Built a multi-generational knitting project to provide comfort to hospitalized children.
- Differentiates between philanthropy and altruism—and why the latter is the future of community engagement.
- Turned personal adversity and mental health challenges into fuel for transformation and deeper leadership.
- Is helping PLR integrate service into its brand DNA, driving real change across South Florida’s nonprofit ecosystem.
This episode is a must-listen for nonprofit leaders, community advocates, business owners, and anyone who believes in leading with empathy and leaving a legacy that goes beyond metrics.
🔊 Whether you’re leading an organization or seeking inspiration to give back in your own way, Peter’s story is a powerful reminder that showing up—with heart and intention—matters more than ever.
Guest Bio:
Peter C. Leighton is the Client Relationships Specialist at Palermo, Landsman & Ross and a 26-year veteran in the fields of business development, adult education, nonprofit leadership, and client advocacy. He has served on boards for Alzheimer’s Association, Impact Broward, and the Broward County Guardianship Association. He is also a mental health advocate and public speaker.
📌 Learn more about PLR: www.plrcpas.com
📞 Contact Peter: (954) 290-3488
🔗 Connect with him on LinkedIn: Peter C. Leighton
Would you like some help creating the perfect narrative for your organization?
Book your Strategy Call
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Special Thanks to Stacy Daugherty for the beautiful wall artwork in the background. Socials: @artographybystacy
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chris Baker (00:08):
Chris Baker, and each week we'll explore
incredible connections betweennonprofits, businesses and the
community.
This is a space where wehighlight inspiring partnerships
, uncover strategies forcreating meaningful impact and
share stories that show howworking together can make all
the difference.
Whether you're a nonprofitleader, a business owner or
(00:28):
someone just passionate aboutbuilding connections, this
podcast is for you.
Welcome back to Visual Eyes.
Today.
I have Peter Leighton.
Hi there, Chris, welcome.
Welcome to the show, so Veryexcited to be here.
He is from Palermo, Landsmanand Ross.
Did I get that right?
Peter Leighton (00:47):
Yes, a CPA firm full service.
Corporate tax, individual tax.
Chris Baker (00:52):
Absolutely yeah.
One of the things that I'venoticed right off the bat is
what you guys have done for thenonprofits, specifically
Children's Harbor.
It's part of our values as afirm Big one, yes, so part of
this podcast is really to talkabout that.
Peter Leighton (01:07):
I would love to hear your specific journey in
helping non-profits, eitherthrough this or this business or
through other ones in the past,even like what brought you to
love yeah, you know, obviouslypart of my dna, if you will,
over my last 55 years has beenthe ability to give and the
ability to share and the abilityto have optimism every day that
(01:31):
I can make a difference.
You know, some people go backto what's called like the
starfish story, of making adifference for one person or one
individual, and so I've alwayslooked at it as altruism.
I think there's two things thatyou can have aspect on.
There's philanthropy, where youknow you kind of go, you show
up, you strike a check andthat's okay.
(01:53):
But then there's altruism whichis really true community
service, where we get in thereand we work with people who
maybe are a little lessfortunate than us or have some
challenges in life.
Some of the areas that I'veworked with over my career,
having started my career inhigher education, administration
and faculty work was workingwith fraternities and sororities
(02:15):
and clubs, on institutions,both public and private, on the
idea of encouraging those youngpeople to do altruism.
So I remember one example whenI was at Arizona State, which
was the beginning of my career,we used to do what was called
Christmas in April, where wepartnered up with Home Depot and
Lowe's and we brought all ofthe fraternity and sorority
(02:37):
members about 3,000 of them on arandom weekend in April and we
went in with Habitat forHumanity and we built homes.
How many?
3,000?
Fraternity weekend in April andwe went in with Habitat for
Humanity and we built homes.
How many 3,000 fraternitysorority members?
Wow, yeah, it was incredible.
And they're a big campus I meanthey're almost doing 80,000
people at their campus.
So I had the opportunity to rolemodel that from a very young
(02:58):
age.
I was only 23 years old when Igot my first job with my
master's degree and so thatfloored me forward, pushed me
forward, if you will inspired meto always look at Chris
opportunities to providealtruism wherever I worked.
Now am I a business owner?
No, it's just not in my DNA,but I'm a builder.
(03:20):
I'm a compound builder, I liketo build things right.
So what happened was is nomatter where I worked, I looked
towards finding what we could doto give back.
So when I went to RochesterInstitute of Technology, part of
my job was working with 3,000deaf students.
Okay, had to learn signlanguage very quickly, had to
(03:40):
understand deaf culture, whichis a fascinating culture, but
it's very different than themajority of us in the hearing
world.
Chris Baker (03:47):
Yeah, I know it is.
Peter Leighton (03:47):
So some of my opportunities there were very
different and very humbling.
When I would go out with mydeaf clubs and organizations or
my leadership teams from theresidence halls and we would do
things like highway cleanups.
Okay, now you can communicatewhen you're verbally doing that,
but you're doing it throughsign language.
(04:09):
You have to look out for safety, you have to make sure the
teams are doing things right.
So it was a very humblingexperience that led me on to FIU
where I finished up my highered career and then went into
private practice with assistedliving and our seniors.
So what we used to do, therewas a program called the
knitwits and I used to haveabout 16 or 17 of my 70 to 90
(04:36):
year olds and we would bringthem in and we would do knitting
three days a week and I wouldkind of you know, coordinate it,
provide the and I would kind ofyou know, coordinate it,
provide the yarn and we wouldcreate small warm blankets,
small warm handy warmers andsmall warm knitted hats, and
every quarter we would then takeour production over to Joe
DiMaggio Children's Hospital onthe peds very serious, you know,
(05:01):
icu, those types of situationsand scenarios for them and the
families and we would donatethose and that was some really
cool stuff, right, because itwasn't striking a check, it was
really giving a humanistic touchto those children.
Since then I've worked with allthe Alzheimer's Association of
both Dade and Broward.
I served on their boards earlyon and now I have a tradition,
(05:25):
my wife and I we go to theirwalk, the memory walk, every
year, and whether I'm doing itby myself, out of the goodness
of my heart and giving back, orI'm going on behalf of my
company, that's been veryimportant.
Currently at Palermo, lansmanand Ross, we really do a lot
with Children's Harbor, which isan excellent local Broward
(05:47):
County, you know organization,nonprofit, and I myself, for the
last seven years, I sit proudlyand serve on the board of the
Broward County GuardianshipAssociation, which is a
nonprofit.
So that's pretty much.
Yeah, you know, I mean I thinkit's always been critically
important.
Every now and then my wife andI still go over to Feeding
(06:09):
America in Hallandale, near ourhome, and we will do a day over
there with usually about 100people of you know packing up
the food packages that are soneeded in our community.
Chris Baker (06:22):
Let's talk a little bit more about current
collaborations, specificallymaybe with Children's Harbor,
with Landsman and Ross Right,and how is that collaboration
set up?
How do you guys make it uniqueor different so that other
people can kind of like see itand understand it to the point
(06:43):
where they maybe can go and findsome of those types of options,
you know.
Peter Leighton (06:48):
Look, when I came on board with PLRCPAs two
years ago, I had known MrPalermo for 22 years, so I
already knew his reach.
I knew Karen Ross's reach, Iknew Brett Lansman's reach and,
of course, dean Palermo, artie'sbrother, who's also a partner,
and I knew that they always wereengaged in these.
So it was going to be a naturalfit for me to come on board
(07:10):
with the team and then bring myorganizations to the approach.
So we have a process going onas we speak where we've renewed
our website.
We've renewed what is calledthe community development
section on the website.
We're going to evolve that.
What's exciting to me is I hadworked on a similar project of
that at my former law firm, chepNutrition in North Miami, where
(07:34):
we worked on a media section,we worked on professional
presentation section, we workedon a community service section.
So I was really in the flowthere of being able to actualize
what we were doing.
And that's the key thing.
Right, you strike a check, it'sokay, your name gets up on the
board, but when you show thecommunity, the local community,
that you are engaging it andthat you are doing things in the
(07:57):
heart and the core of BrowardCounty to better Broward County,
where a majority of our clientslie.
You become much morerepresented, much more visible,
credible.
Credible is huge in that.
So I came on board andobviously the Alzheimer's
Association and the BCGA, theBroward County Guardians
Association, were a given.
And right away Mr Palermo saidI will give you money towards
(08:21):
BCGA, your time, your effort,your labor.
And he said you know I willsupport you fully in the
Alzheimer's Walk in Broward andI said thank you so much.
As I've been there.
Ms Ross is the chair of theboard of Children's Harbor and
I've been more engaged with themon the backside, which has been
a lot of fun and a lot ofmotivation, taking care of
(08:45):
children and mothers who havegone through some horrific adult
scenarios and are getting theshelter and the kids are getting
the you know, collaborationsand the teachings.
So that has been a lot of fun,but it's also been a lot of, I
think, a little more serious inthe, in the altruistic loin, if
you will.
You know I also have learnedmore about Brett Lansman.
(09:09):
Right, brett Lansman and I goback about 18 years.
What I didn't realize is he wasso engaged with the Crockett
Foundation and so he is involvedwith Henry Crockett.
Henry Crockett and his brother,who played in the NFL, played
at Florida State go Nolesbecause I'm an alum myself with
my master's very proud.
But the Crockett Foundation isin Pompano and the Crockett
(09:32):
Foundation is getting larger andwhat they're doing now, chris,
is that they are going into thecommunities of Pompano in some
of the tougher areas and helpingkids with after-school programs
, helping kids to stay away fromthe streets.
They're helping kids get extralearning in math and science.
They've even started a newcollaboration in the area of
(09:55):
robotics.
They're doing some really coolstuff in that STEM arena science
, technology, those types ofthings.
And then the other thing thatrecently we've learned more
about is called Ideal, and thatis another nonprofit that Mr
Palermo just decided to join theboard.
I don't know where the man findsthe time sometimes, but he
(10:16):
gives back a lot.
But that is an organizationhelping cognitively and or
mentally challenged human beings, a lot of children.
So that's kind of hit home forme too, because I had a cousin,
krista, who also had some ofthose challenges and watching
that growing up as a child andas a teen, and so it's really
(10:39):
cool to see us giving back inthat space as well, and then
finally, I'll bring up that.
You know I'm part of my job.
It's very important.
It's related to all this isthat I am now seeking to meet
the board members of all ofthose organizations because of
awareness building, credibilitybuilding for the PLR brand right
(11:02):
.
So part of my goals this year,literally as a business
developer, is to get in front ofmore of those board members and
make business relationshipsform so that we may or may not
pick up new clients, but we knowstrategically we're in the
right place.
Chris Baker (11:19):
Okay, yep, so do you have any collaboration
stories that you can kind oflike anything that you've worked
on recently that really made ahuge impact?
Peter Leighton (11:30):
Yeah, you know, I think one of the things about
me, chris, is that my entirecareer for whatever reason, how
it panned out has been aboutadult development.
Okay, so you know, I startedout with a dream of being a dean
of students on a college campus.
I made it all the way up toassociate dean at FIU for a
couple of years and then I wentinto the private sector.
(11:51):
But my whole ability as aprofessional and a leader and a
community give back leader hasbeen working with adults.
You know, let's talk about it Ihad the 17 or 18 year olds up
to 22, college age, traditional,helping them to kind of get
ready for life, if you will.
You know what we used to callthe learning out of the
(12:11):
classroom.
You know I then went intosenior care, on the opposite end
of the spectrum, and I wasworking with anywhere from 65
year olds who had some kind ofchallenges that needed to be in
assisted living or in skilledliving.
Skilled care living All the wayup to my oldest was 109.
And now at Palermo, lansman andRoss, I'm on the accounting side
, the corporate side, which issomething that was a learning
(12:33):
curve for me, but now I'vegrasped it and now, what I'm
doing is helping business ownersto understand.
You got to have businesscorporate documents to keep your
business straight.
You got to know what your CPAis doing for you or not doing
for you.
You need to understandfinancial planning, financial
advising, and you also need tohave estate planning done,
(12:54):
because what happens in thatcollaboration effort is they're
building all this wealth.
They're amazing at what they do.
I love meeting these businessowners.
It's fascinating to me howpeople make money in this
country, but at the same note,chris, in that collaborative
effort, we're guiding them andsaying you got to protect what
you're earning oh, yeah, rightabsolutely yeah and I mean even
(13:14):
on the non side.
Chris Baker (13:16):
Sure, same thing Nonprofits are a business,
absolutely, and if they don'thave the documents in place,
there's going to be hiccups.
Sure, there's going to bechallenges, right?
So that actually brings us upto our next topic.
A little bit about challenges.
What are some of the challengesthat you've noticed of through
working with and helpingnonprofits that you had to
(13:40):
overcome?
What those, some of thoselessons?
Peter Leighton (13:42):
well, I go back to an interesting, an
interesting experience when Iwas working in law and I served
on a board that was calledimpact broward.
Okay, okay, and a gentleman bythe name of mike wild, who's an
attorney at Kelly Cronenberg andis very well known in the
Broward County community servicespace, does a lot with 211,
(14:04):
does a lot with United WayBroward, etc.
He brought me on to the boardof Impact Broward and what
Impact Broward did was we wereout there working with seniors
who couldn't have transportationto the doctor.
We were working with veteranswho probably just needed a
little bit of help and guidancein their life.
(14:25):
We were working with what wascalled Veterans Court, which was
part of the Broward CountyCourt System, where if a veteran
got in trouble, we would thenassign a trained veteran from
our organization as part oftheir rehab, as part of their
probate except probation wouldbe Now one of the challenges we
(14:46):
hit on.
That was we had an eight-yearrun on that board and we watched
the organization unfortunatelydwindle down to having to close.
Okay, oh wow.
Dwindled down to having toclose, oh, wow.
And I will tell you that it wasextremely challenging and
frustrating as a board membergoing out and doing things like
golf tournaments, fundraisersand I was one of the major
(15:08):
fundraisers and ultimatelywatching some of the issues on
the backside that weadministratively really couldn't
fix right.
That had to come from the CEO,the COO.
You know that was their role,that was their job, and so it
was very challenging as wewatched it dwindle down over
(15:28):
time.
And yet we were still puttingefforts in to do the right thing
because we knew we were takingcare of seniors and we were
taking care of people who hadjust made a mistake and they
were trying to get back into thecommunity.
And we knew we were taking careof seniors and we were taking
care of people who had just madea mistake and they were trying
to get back into the community.
And we knew we were taking careof people for the idea, chris,
of helping someone who needed alittle extra, you know, in life,
and that was very challengingto watch.
(15:51):
And then the other thing thatI'll share is that some know
that at the end of 2022, Imyself found myself in a very
tough mental health challengeand you know, I found myself
watching everything I had built,everything that I was trying to
go into the future in myfifties, had just lost my job at
(16:12):
no fault of mine.
And you know I am watching myown self, my mind, my body,
physically dominated by anxietyand fear, and that really
changed me from the standpointof thank god to my counselors,
thank god to my wife, my mom, myfriends, that in an eighth
(16:36):
month period I battled throughit.
And I share that because Ithink what, what my perspective
is now going through that andkind of turning the leaf to a
higher power, whatever it may beis, I say, especially the men,
get help.
Chris Baker (16:50):
Oh, one every time.
Peter Leighton (16:51):
Get help.
And so that came later in mylife.
And if I would have looked atthis from an outside in through
a glass and said, peter C Layton, I'll have this happen to him
in his 50s, I would have laughedat you.
I would have laughed at you.
Okay, and then what has comeout of that?
Well, you and I are involved ina business network and just
(17:18):
recently I got a 20-year awardfor a Lifetime Achievement Award
to South Florida both Dade andBroward for my production and my
giving.
That was a proud moment.
Now I look back on what happenedto me and I'm still learning
about me and I'm still learningabout my wife and our
relationship and about mybusiness presence.
So I think that these are somethings that when you talk about
challenges, you can have themyes, as I described with Impact
Broward.
But you talk about challenges,you can have them yes, as I
(17:39):
described it in Pac Broward.
But you got to keep an eye onyourself and you got to know
when things are telling you youneed to get help and don't be
afraid to ask for help.
Chris Baker (17:50):
I was not expecting it to go that route, but you're
completely right.
Mental health is so importantand it doesn't matter if you're
a man or a woman.
Right, get the help that youneed.
Right, because you cannot takecare of anyone else.
Right, until you take care ofyourself first.
Right, and it's the statementthat I always recommend.
(18:13):
It's like you fill your cupfirst and you put your cup on
top of other cups and thenwhatever spills over can go to
other people.
Peter Leighton (18:20):
And Chris, I'll make another point.
What I learned from mycounselors is I was an expert at
masking.
I was an expert, oh yeah, and Iwas really good at it and I
wasn't picking up on things likethat.
My wife, my mom, my dad, whenhe was still alive, would say to
me I wasn't picking up onthings like that.
My wife, my mom, my dad, whenhe was still alive, would say to
me I wasn't picking up on himbecause everything else around
(18:42):
me was just close to perfect.
I mean, I had good jobs.
Thank god, I got paid well,thank god, you know, um, and I
was living a great life.
All my friends music is a bigthing in my life and all my
music family.
You know, we were just on jamcruise last week which, yes, I
highly promote if you like livemusic.
(19:02):
It was epic.
But you know, coming backaround to the series as part of
it, you're absolutely correct,chris, in that you've got to
seek help and find it.
The one thing that for men,I'll say this it's embarrassing
and it's hard on your psyche.
So get out there and get thehelp you need.
Chris Baker (19:21):
Yeah, yeah, no, it's, it's very, it's very
important.
Um, what is the futureinvolvement?
I mean you did say, uh, Palermowas actually joining a board, a
new board and a new board.
So I mean, new boards are awhole nother level because you
know you're starting fromscratch, right, especially if
(19:42):
the organization is brand new,right?
So talk about that and a littlebit more about where pler
malanthan ross is going to helpyeah, I mean, look, you know,
we're very proud of what we'vedone.
Peter Leighton (19:54):
We're very proud of what we've done, we're very
proud of where we're going.
I think what is exciting withthe involvement of the website
it's kind of sparked Ms Ross andMr Palermo and myself having
being in the front, businessdevelopment, wise, out in the
community and whatnot, to reallytake a look at brand awareness
(20:16):
and to take a look at missionvision, to look at values.
Chris Baker (20:23):
So important.
Peter Leighton (20:23):
Yeah, and you know I've learned along my
journey as a non-business ownerto observe some firms and
organizational cultures that Ithink both workplace culture
wise they're absolutely livingit right.
So I look at law firms likeBast Amron down in Miami, very
much aligned to their values andhow they do it, and I think
(20:47):
what's happening at Palermo,Lanesville and Ross is the
actualization of serving right.
So we're trying to look at howdo we set expectations from day
one when we onboard a newbookkeeper, we onboard a new tax
preparer, a new CPA, to saying,you know, we're not forcing
(21:08):
anybody to do something they'reuncomfortable with.
But what we're saying isthere's a high expectation here.
That part of this experience,this job, this workplace culture
, is for you to tell us whatyou're supporting and that might
be a great endeavor.
We will help you to supportthat.
Or tell us what you'd like toengage.
(21:30):
Okay, Right, you'd like toengage, Okay.
So recently I've been doing somemini interior, I guess, beta
gathering on our teams and youknow what is important to them
for giving back, what isimportant to them for social
media, what is important to themof who they're following.
(21:52):
You know we may find out thatsomebody has a passion for
something related to the Jewishfaith.
We may find out that someonehas a passion for an
organization that is providingassistance to seniors.
I mean, the idea, being here,Chris, is that how do we
actualize it in our community?
(22:13):
And we are steadfast on thecredibility of our foundation,
of what we say we are and who weare and how we live it, and so
that's been a lot of fun in thelast couple of months working on
that, which is kind of aninside thing versus the fact
that I'm outside.
Chris Baker (22:30):
Yeah, yeah.
Peter Leighton (22:32):
And I think the reason again that I can help
with it is because of all myexperiences in the nonprofit
circles and the giving and thesharing and the community
service projects and altruismthat I outlined earlier in the
interview.
And now what I'm able to do isput together even another level
of packaging, if you will, forthe firm's brand.
Chris Baker (22:52):
That's amazing.
Peter Leighton (22:52):
Yeah.
And it's been fun it's been fun.
Chris Baker (22:55):
No, that's going to be very valuable for a lot of
people.
So I think this is great yeah,this is great, all right.
So how do people that areinterested in CPA work?
How do they contact Palermo,lanzer and Ross?
Peter Leighton (23:08):
Yeah, the first thing I'd say about contacting
Palermo, lanzar and Ross is togo and check out our website.
We went into modernization.
I'll just say that, excitingthough.
Go to wwwplrcpascom One wordit's fun, it's frolic-y, it's
(23:30):
educational.
All the profiles of the coreteam members are up there.
You can learn more about me,which is fun and cool.
And then the other thing isthat clearly we are accessible
to our clients and accessible tofolks who want to learn more,
who want to get an assessmentdone of their current financials
and taxes, and we know this.
(23:50):
Our goal is not numbers.
Believe that or not.
We're very sophisticated atwhat we do and we have the
experience and season to saythat.
But what we're in is what we'redoing.
Is the people, business right?
We want business owners to comeinto us, engage us and and on
the backside, the result ishelping them to be a better
(24:10):
business owner.
Chris Baker (24:12):
Right, yeah, awesome.
So my final question Sure, tokind of like wrap this up.
Peter Leighton (24:17):
Well, I could go all day with you, chris.
Chris Baker (24:19):
You probably could.
We could definitely so what isthe legacy you personally hope
to leave for future generations?
Peter Leighton (24:27):
Okay, that's a funny question because I just
had our estate plan reviewed.
Okay, and that's a tough one.
Sometimes it's a tough one.
This is the second round.
We've had it reviewed.
Martha and I don't have any kids, but we have an estate plan and
we're proud of that, hencehaving come from a firm that did
a lot of that work in law.
But I teased during it and Isaid, martha, to my beautiful
(24:51):
wife, my rock, I said, when I go, the gravestone is simply going
to say he helped a lot ofpeople, he helped a lot of
people.
So you know, my ideal now isI'm out there, I want to help
the business owners to get theirstuff right.
It may not be PLR they end upgoing with, but I can tell you
(25:12):
this they're going to getopportunities for strategic
introductions to grow theirbusiness.
They're going to getopportunities to learn more from
our business advisory.
And for me, it's the ideal thatI just feel great in life, that
it feels great to give, and sothat's where my world is, and so
that's where my world is.
(25:33):
I think turning the leaf aftermy challenges in 22 have been a
great eye opener for me and I'mgoing to continue to utilize my
affirmations every day that Iget up and every night that I go
to bed, so that the next day isfull of optimism.
Chris Baker (25:51):
I'm grateful that I get to breathe.
That's it Grateful that I havea roof over my head.
That's it.
Peter Leighton (25:55):
Yeah, it's very important and so, yeah, it's all
about giving back one way oranother.
I'm blessed, we're blessed,yeah, and we are very blessed.
Martha and I talk about that alot as my bestie and you know we
want to be able to get outthere and make a difference for
our community and help otherpeople that's fantastic.
Chris Baker (26:15):
Thank you, that's absolutely fantastic thank you,
peter.
Thank you so much today forbeing on the show, and this is a
wealth of knowledge, so veryappreciative and I enjoyed every
second of it thank you forjoining me on this episode of
Visual Eyes.
We hope that the inspiration andpractical insights can help you
(26:36):
foster stronger connections andmeaningful change.
Don't forget to subscribe,share the episode and leave us a
review.
To learn more about Visuals byMomo and how we support
collaboration and storytelling,visit visualsbymomo.
com.
A huge thank you to everyoneout there listening.
(26:56):
Until next time, remember,collaboration fuels change and
your connections can inspire theworld.
Chris Baker, and each week we'll explore
incredible connections betweennonprofits, businesses and the
community.
This is a space where wehighlight inspiring partnerships
, uncover strategies forcreating meaningful impact and
share stories that show howworking together can make all
the difference.
Whether you're a nonprofitleader, a business owner or
(00:28):
someone just passionate aboutbuilding connections, this
podcast is for you.
Welcome back to Visual Eyes.
Today.
I have Peter Leighton.
Hi there, Chris, welcome.
Welcome to the show, so Veryexcited to be here.
He is from Palermo, Landsmanand Ross.
Did I get that right?
Peter Leighton (00:47):
Yes, a CPA firm full service.
Corporate tax, individual tax.
Chris Baker (00:52):
Absolutely yeah.
One of the things that I'venoticed right off the bat is
what you guys have done for thenonprofits, specifically
Children's Harbor.
It's part of our values as afirm Big one, yes, so part of
this podcast is really to talkabout that.
Peter Leighton (01:07):
I would love to hear your specific journey in
helping non-profits, eitherthrough this or this business or
through other ones in the past,even like what brought you to
love yeah, you know, obviouslypart of my dna, if you will,
over my last 55 years has beenthe ability to give and the
ability to share and the abilityto have optimism every day that
(01:31):
I can make a difference.
You know, some people go backto what's called like the
starfish story, of making adifference for one person or one
individual, and so I've alwayslooked at it as altruism.
I think there's two things thatyou can have aspect on.
There's philanthropy, where youknow you kind of go, you show
up, you strike a check andthat's okay.
(01:53):
But then there's altruism whichis really true community
service, where we get in thereand we work with people who
maybe are a little lessfortunate than us or have some
challenges in life.
Some of the areas that I'veworked with over my career,
having started my career inhigher education, administration
and faculty work was workingwith fraternities and sororities
(02:15):
and clubs, on institutions,both public and private, on the
idea of encouraging those youngpeople to do altruism.
So I remember one example whenI was at Arizona State, which
was the beginning of my career,we used to do what was called
Christmas in April, where wepartnered up with Home Depot and
Lowe's and we brought all ofthe fraternity and sorority
(02:37):
members about 3,000 of them on arandom weekend in April and we
went in with Habitat forHumanity and we built homes.
How many?
3,000?
Fraternity weekend in April andwe went in with Habitat for
Humanity and we built homes.
How many 3,000 fraternitysorority members?
Wow, yeah, it was incredible.
And they're a big campus I meanthey're almost doing 80,000
people at their campus.
So I had the opportunity to rolemodel that from a very young
(02:58):
age.
I was only 23 years old when Igot my first job with my
master's degree and so thatfloored me forward, pushed me
forward, if you will inspired meto always look at Chris
opportunities to providealtruism wherever I worked.
Now am I a business owner?
No, it's just not in my DNA,but I'm a builder.
(03:20):
I'm a compound builder, I liketo build things right.
So what happened was is nomatter where I worked, I looked
towards finding what we could doto give back.
So when I went to RochesterInstitute of Technology, part of
my job was working with 3,000deaf students.
Okay, had to learn signlanguage very quickly, had to
(03:40):
understand deaf culture, whichis a fascinating culture, but
it's very different than themajority of us in the hearing
world.
Chris Baker (03:47):
Yeah, I know it is.
Peter Leighton (03:47):
So some of my opportunities there were very
different and very humbling.
When I would go out with mydeaf clubs and organizations or
my leadership teams from theresidence halls and we would do
things like highway cleanups.
Okay, now you can communicatewhen you're verbally doing that,
but you're doing it throughsign language.
(04:09):
You have to look out for safety, you have to make sure the
teams are doing things right.
So it was a very humblingexperience that led me on to FIU
where I finished up my highered career and then went into
private practice with assistedliving and our seniors.
So what we used to do, therewas a program called the
knitwits and I used to haveabout 16 or 17 of my 70 to 90
(04:36):
year olds and we would bringthem in and we would do knitting
three days a week and I wouldkind of you know, coordinate it,
provide the and I would kind ofyou know, coordinate it,
provide the yarn and we wouldcreate small warm blankets,
small warm handy warmers andsmall warm knitted hats, and
every quarter we would then takeour production over to Joe
DiMaggio Children's Hospital onthe peds very serious, you know,
(05:01):
icu, those types of situationsand scenarios for them and the
families and we would donatethose and that was some really
cool stuff, right, because itwasn't striking a check, it was
really giving a humanistic touchto those children.
Since then I've worked with allthe Alzheimer's Association of
both Dade and Broward.
I served on their boards earlyon and now I have a tradition,
(05:25):
my wife and I we go to theirwalk, the memory walk, every
year, and whether I'm doing itby myself, out of the goodness
of my heart and giving back, orI'm going on behalf of my
company, that's been veryimportant.
Currently at Palermo, lansmanand Ross, we really do a lot
with Children's Harbor, which isan excellent local Broward
(05:47):
County, you know organization,nonprofit, and I myself, for the
last seven years, I sit proudlyand serve on the board of the
Broward County GuardianshipAssociation, which is a
nonprofit.
So that's pretty much.
Yeah, you know, I mean I thinkit's always been critically
important.
Every now and then my wife andI still go over to Feeding
(06:09):
America in Hallandale, near ourhome, and we will do a day over
there with usually about 100people of you know packing up
the food packages that are soneeded in our community.
Chris Baker (06:22):
Let's talk a little bit more about current
collaborations, specificallymaybe with Children's Harbor,
with Landsman and Ross Right,and how is that collaboration
set up?
How do you guys make it uniqueor different so that other
people can kind of like see itand understand it to the point
(06:43):
where they maybe can go and findsome of those types of options,
you know.
Peter Leighton (06:48):
Look, when I came on board with PLRCPAs two
years ago, I had known MrPalermo for 22 years, so I
already knew his reach.
I knew Karen Ross's reach, Iknew Brett Lansman's reach and,
of course, dean Palermo, artie'sbrother, who's also a partner,
and I knew that they always wereengaged in these.
So it was going to be a naturalfit for me to come on board
(07:10):
with the team and then bring myorganizations to the approach.
So we have a process going onas we speak where we've renewed
our website.
We've renewed what is calledthe community development
section on the website.
We're going to evolve that.
What's exciting to me is I hadworked on a similar project of
that at my former law firm, chepNutrition in North Miami, where
(07:34):
we worked on a media section,we worked on professional
presentation section, we workedon a community service section.
So I was really in the flowthere of being able to actualize
what we were doing.
And that's the key thing.
Right, you strike a check, it'sokay, your name gets up on the
board, but when you show thecommunity, the local community,
that you are engaging it andthat you are doing things in the
(07:57):
heart and the core of BrowardCounty to better Broward County,
where a majority of our clientslie.
You become much morerepresented, much more visible,
credible.
Credible is huge in that.
So I came on board andobviously the Alzheimer's
Association and the BCGA, theBroward County Guardians
Association, were a given.
And right away Mr Palermo saidI will give you money towards
(08:21):
BCGA, your time, your effort,your labor.
And he said you know I willsupport you fully in the
Alzheimer's Walk in Broward andI said thank you so much.
As I've been there.
Ms Ross is the chair of theboard of Children's Harbor and
I've been more engaged with themon the backside, which has been
a lot of fun and a lot ofmotivation, taking care of
(08:45):
children and mothers who havegone through some horrific adult
scenarios and are getting theshelter and the kids are getting
the you know, collaborationsand the teachings.
So that has been a lot of fun,but it's also been a lot of, I
think, a little more serious inthe, in the altruistic loin, if
you will.
You know I also have learnedmore about Brett Lansman.
(09:09):
Right, brett Lansman and I goback about 18 years.
What I didn't realize is he wasso engaged with the Crockett
Foundation and so he is involvedwith Henry Crockett.
Henry Crockett and his brother,who played in the NFL, played
at Florida State go Nolesbecause I'm an alum myself with
my master's very proud.
But the Crockett Foundation isin Pompano and the Crockett
(09:32):
Foundation is getting larger andwhat they're doing now, chris,
is that they are going into thecommunities of Pompano in some
of the tougher areas and helpingkids with after-school programs
, helping kids to stay away fromthe streets.
They're helping kids get extralearning in math and science.
They've even started a newcollaboration in the area of
(09:55):
robotics.
They're doing some really coolstuff in that STEM arena science
, technology, those types ofthings.
And then the other thing thatrecently we've learned more
about is called Ideal, and thatis another nonprofit that Mr
Palermo just decided to join theboard.
I don't know where the man findsthe time sometimes, but he
(10:16):
gives back a lot.
But that is an organizationhelping cognitively and or
mentally challenged human beings, a lot of children.
So that's kind of hit home forme too, because I had a cousin,
krista, who also had some ofthose challenges and watching
that growing up as a child andas a teen, and so it's really
(10:39):
cool to see us giving back inthat space as well, and then
finally, I'll bring up that.
You know I'm part of my job.
It's very important.
It's related to all this isthat I am now seeking to meet
the board members of all ofthose organizations because of
awareness building, credibilitybuilding for the PLR brand right
(11:02):
.
So part of my goals this year,literally as a business
developer, is to get in front ofmore of those board members and
make business relationshipsform so that we may or may not
pick up new clients, but we knowstrategically we're in the
right place.
Chris Baker (11:19):
Okay, yep, so do you have any collaboration
stories that you can kind oflike anything that you've worked
on recently that really made ahuge impact?
Peter Leighton (11:30):
Yeah, you know, I think one of the things about
me, chris, is that my entirecareer for whatever reason, how
it panned out has been aboutadult development.
Okay, so you know, I startedout with a dream of being a dean
of students on a college campus.
I made it all the way up toassociate dean at FIU for a
couple of years and then I wentinto the private sector.
(11:51):
But my whole ability as aprofessional and a leader and a
community give back leader hasbeen working with adults.
You know, let's talk about it Ihad the 17 or 18 year olds up
to 22, college age, traditional,helping them to kind of get
ready for life, if you will.
You know what we used to callthe learning out of the
(12:11):
classroom.
You know I then went intosenior care, on the opposite end
of the spectrum, and I wasworking with anywhere from 65
year olds who had some kind ofchallenges that needed to be in
assisted living or in skilledliving.
Skilled care living All the wayup to my oldest was 109.
And now at Palermo, lansman andRoss, I'm on the accounting side
, the corporate side, which issomething that was a learning
(12:33):
curve for me, but now I'vegrasped it and now, what I'm
doing is helping business ownersto understand.
You got to have businesscorporate documents to keep your
business straight.
You got to know what your CPAis doing for you or not doing
for you.
You need to understandfinancial planning, financial
advising, and you also need tohave estate planning done,
(12:54):
because what happens in thatcollaboration effort is they're
building all this wealth.
They're amazing at what they do.
I love meeting these businessowners.
It's fascinating to me howpeople make money in this
country, but at the same note,chris, in that collaborative
effort, we're guiding them andsaying you got to protect what
you're earning oh, yeah, rightabsolutely yeah and I mean even
(13:14):
on the non side.
Chris Baker (13:16):
Sure, same thing Nonprofits are a business,
absolutely, and if they don'thave the documents in place,
there's going to be hiccups.
Sure, there's going to bechallenges, right?
So that actually brings us upto our next topic.
A little bit about challenges.
What are some of the challengesthat you've noticed of through
working with and helpingnonprofits that you had to
(13:40):
overcome?
What those, some of thoselessons?
Peter Leighton (13:42):
well, I go back to an interesting, an
interesting experience when Iwas working in law and I served
on a board that was calledimpact broward.
Okay, okay, and a gentleman bythe name of mike wild, who's an
attorney at Kelly Cronenberg andis very well known in the
Broward County community servicespace, does a lot with 211,
(14:04):
does a lot with United WayBroward, etc.
He brought me on to the boardof Impact Broward and what
Impact Broward did was we wereout there working with seniors
who couldn't have transportationto the doctor.
We were working with veteranswho probably just needed a
little bit of help and guidancein their life.
(14:25):
We were working with what wascalled Veterans Court, which was
part of the Broward CountyCourt System, where if a veteran
got in trouble, we would thenassign a trained veteran from
our organization as part oftheir rehab, as part of their
probate except probation wouldbe Now one of the challenges we
(14:46):
hit on.
That was we had an eight-yearrun on that board and we watched
the organization unfortunatelydwindle down to having to close.
Okay, oh wow.
Dwindled down to having toclose, oh, wow.
And I will tell you that it wasextremely challenging and
frustrating as a board membergoing out and doing things like
golf tournaments, fundraisersand I was one of the major
(15:08):
fundraisers and ultimatelywatching some of the issues on
the backside that weadministratively really couldn't
fix right.
That had to come from the CEO,the COO.
You know that was their role,that was their job, and so it
was very challenging as wewatched it dwindle down over
(15:28):
time.
And yet we were still puttingefforts in to do the right thing
because we knew we were takingcare of seniors and we were
taking care of people who hadjust made a mistake and they
were trying to get back into thecommunity.
And we knew we were taking careof seniors and we were taking
care of people who had just madea mistake and they were trying
to get back into the community.
And we knew we were taking careof people for the idea, chris,
of helping someone who needed alittle extra, you know, in life,
and that was very challengingto watch.
(15:51):
And then the other thing thatI'll share is that some know
that at the end of 2022, Imyself found myself in a very
tough mental health challengeand you know, I found myself
watching everything I had built,everything that I was trying to
go into the future in myfifties, had just lost my job at
(16:12):
no fault of mine.
And you know I am watching myown self, my mind, my body,
physically dominated by anxietyand fear, and that really
changed me from the standpointof thank god to my counselors,
thank god to my wife, my mom, myfriends, that in an eighth
(16:36):
month period I battled throughit.
And I share that because Ithink what, what my perspective
is now going through that andkind of turning the leaf to a
higher power, whatever it may beis, I say, especially the men,
get help.
Chris Baker (16:50):
Oh, one every time.
Peter Leighton (16:51):
Get help.
And so that came later in mylife.
And if I would have looked atthis from an outside in through
a glass and said, peter C Layton, I'll have this happen to him
in his 50s, I would have laughedat you.
I would have laughed at you.
Okay, and then what has comeout of that?
Well, you and I are involved ina business network and just
(17:18):
recently I got a 20-year awardfor a Lifetime Achievement Award
to South Florida both Dade andBroward for my production and my
giving.
That was a proud moment.
Now I look back on what happenedto me and I'm still learning
about me and I'm still learningabout my wife and our
relationship and about mybusiness presence.
So I think that these are somethings that when you talk about
challenges, you can have themyes, as I described with Impact
Broward.
But you talk about challenges,you can have them yes, as I
(17:39):
described it in Pac Broward.
But you got to keep an eye onyourself and you got to know
when things are telling you youneed to get help and don't be
afraid to ask for help.
Chris Baker (17:50):
I was not expecting it to go that route, but you're
completely right.
Mental health is so importantand it doesn't matter if you're
a man or a woman.
Right, get the help that youneed.
Right, because you cannot takecare of anyone else.
Right, until you take care ofyourself first.
Right, and it's the statementthat I always recommend.
(18:13):
It's like you fill your cupfirst and you put your cup on
top of other cups and thenwhatever spills over can go to
other people.
Peter Leighton (18:20):
And Chris, I'll make another point.
What I learned from mycounselors is I was an expert at
masking.
I was an expert, oh yeah, and Iwas really good at it and I
wasn't picking up on things likethat.
My wife, my mom, my dad, whenhe was still alive, would say to
me I wasn't picking up onthings like that.
My wife, my mom, my dad, whenhe was still alive, would say to
me I wasn't picking up on himbecause everything else around
(18:42):
me was just close to perfect.
I mean, I had good jobs.
Thank god, I got paid well,thank god, you know, um, and I
was living a great life.
All my friends music is a bigthing in my life and all my
music family.
You know, we were just on jamcruise last week which, yes, I
highly promote if you like livemusic.
(19:02):
It was epic.
But you know, coming backaround to the series as part of
it, you're absolutely correct,chris, in that you've got to
seek help and find it.
The one thing that for men,I'll say this it's embarrassing
and it's hard on your psyche.
So get out there and get thehelp you need.
Chris Baker (19:21):
Yeah, yeah, no, it's, it's very, it's very
important.
Um, what is the futureinvolvement?
I mean you did say, uh, Palermowas actually joining a board, a
new board and a new board.
So I mean, new boards are awhole nother level because you
know you're starting fromscratch, right, especially if
(19:42):
the organization is brand new,right?
So talk about that and a littlebit more about where pler
malanthan ross is going to helpyeah, I mean, look, you know,
we're very proud of what we'vedone.
Peter Leighton (19:54):
We're very proud of what we've done, we're very
proud of where we're going.
I think what is exciting withthe involvement of the website
it's kind of sparked Ms Ross andMr Palermo and myself having
being in the front, businessdevelopment, wise, out in the
community and whatnot, to reallytake a look at brand awareness
(20:16):
and to take a look at missionvision, to look at values.
Chris Baker (20:23):
So important.
Peter Leighton (20:23):
Yeah, and you know I've learned along my
journey as a non-business ownerto observe some firms and
organizational cultures that Ithink both workplace culture
wise they're absolutely livingit right.
So I look at law firms likeBast Amron down in Miami, very
much aligned to their values andhow they do it, and I think
(20:47):
what's happening at Palermo,Lanesville and Ross is the
actualization of serving right.
So we're trying to look at howdo we set expectations from day
one when we onboard a newbookkeeper, we onboard a new tax
preparer, a new CPA, to saying,you know, we're not forcing
(21:08):
anybody to do something they'reuncomfortable with.
But what we're saying isthere's a high expectation here.
That part of this experience,this job, this workplace culture
, is for you to tell us whatyou're supporting and that might
be a great endeavor.
We will help you to supportthat.
Or tell us what you'd like toengage.
(21:30):
Okay, Right, you'd like toengage, Okay.
So recently I've been doing somemini interior, I guess, beta
gathering on our teams and youknow what is important to them
for giving back, what isimportant to them for social
media, what is important to themof who they're following.
(21:52):
You know we may find out thatsomebody has a passion for
something related to the Jewishfaith.
We may find out that someonehas a passion for an
organization that is providingassistance to seniors.
I mean, the idea, being here,Chris, is that how do we
actualize it in our community?
(22:13):
And we are steadfast on thecredibility of our foundation,
of what we say we are and who weare and how we live it, and so
that's been a lot of fun in thelast couple of months working on
that, which is kind of aninside thing versus the fact
that I'm outside.
Chris Baker (22:30):
Yeah, yeah.
Peter Leighton (22:32):
And I think the reason again that I can help
with it is because of all myexperiences in the nonprofit
circles and the giving and thesharing and the community
service projects and altruismthat I outlined earlier in the
interview.
And now what I'm able to do isput together even another level
of packaging, if you will, forthe firm's brand.
Chris Baker (22:52):
That's amazing.
Peter Leighton (22:52):
Yeah.
And it's been fun it's been fun.
Chris Baker (22:55):
No, that's going to be very valuable for a lot of
people.
So I think this is great yeah,this is great, all right.
So how do people that areinterested in CPA work?
How do they contact Palermo,lanzer and Ross?
Peter Leighton (23:08):
Yeah, the first thing I'd say about contacting
Palermo, lanzar and Ross is togo and check out our website.
We went into modernization.
I'll just say that, excitingthough.
Go to wwwplrcpascom One wordit's fun, it's frolic-y, it's
(23:30):
educational.
All the profiles of the coreteam members are up there.
You can learn more about me,which is fun and cool.
And then the other thing isthat clearly we are accessible
to our clients and accessible tofolks who want to learn more,
who want to get an assessmentdone of their current financials
and taxes, and we know this.
(23:50):
Our goal is not numbers.
Believe that or not.
We're very sophisticated atwhat we do and we have the
experience and season to saythat.
But what we're in is what we'redoing.
Is the people, business right?
We want business owners to comeinto us, engage us and and on
the backside, the result ishelping them to be a better
(24:10):
business owner.
Chris Baker (24:12):
Right, yeah, awesome.
So my final question Sure, tokind of like wrap this up.
Peter Leighton (24:17):
Well, I could go all day with you, chris.
Chris Baker (24:19):
You probably could.
We could definitely so what isthe legacy you personally hope
to leave for future generations?
Peter Leighton (24:27):
Okay, that's a funny question because I just
had our estate plan reviewed.
Okay, and that's a tough one.
Sometimes it's a tough one.
This is the second round.
We've had it reviewed.
Martha and I don't have any kids, but we have an estate plan and
we're proud of that, hencehaving come from a firm that did
a lot of that work in law.
But I teased during it and Isaid, martha, to my beautiful
(24:51):
wife, my rock, I said, when I go, the gravestone is simply going
to say he helped a lot ofpeople, he helped a lot of
people.
So you know, my ideal now isI'm out there, I want to help
the business owners to get theirstuff right.
It may not be PLR they end upgoing with, but I can tell you
(25:12):
this they're going to getopportunities for strategic
introductions to grow theirbusiness.
They're going to getopportunities to learn more from
our business advisory.
And for me, it's the ideal thatI just feel great in life, that
it feels great to give, and sothat's where my world is, and so
that's where my world is.
(25:33):
I think turning the leaf aftermy challenges in 22 have been a
great eye opener for me and I'mgoing to continue to utilize my
affirmations every day that Iget up and every night that I go
to bed, so that the next day isfull of optimism.
Chris Baker (25:51):
I'm grateful that I get to breathe.
That's it Grateful that I havea roof over my head.
That's it.
Peter Leighton (25:55):
Yeah, it's very important and so, yeah, it's all
about giving back one way oranother.
I'm blessed, we're blessed,yeah, and we are very blessed.
Martha and I talk about that alot as my bestie and you know we
want to be able to get outthere and make a difference for
our community and help otherpeople that's fantastic.
Chris Baker (26:15):
Thank you, that's absolutely fantastic thank you,
peter.
Thank you so much today forbeing on the show, and this is a
wealth of knowledge, so veryappreciative and I enjoyed every
second of it thank you forjoining me on this episode of
Visual Eyes.
We hope that the inspiration andpractical insights can help you
(26:36):
foster stronger connections andmeaningful change.
Don't forget to subscribe,share the episode and leave us a
review.
To learn more about Visuals byMomo and how we support
collaboration and storytelling,visit visualsbymomo.
com.
A huge thank you to everyoneout there listening.
(26:56):
Until next time, remember,collaboration fuels change and
your connections can inspire theworld.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!