Adele Sobieszczanski first interviewed for TFO Wealth Partners (then The Delp Company) in shorts and tennis shoes on the back porch of the home of the company’s founder, John Delp, as she was visiting Toledo before a move from Minnesota. She thought her stint as an administrative assistant at the firm would be short-lived, but almost 30 years later, Adele is the Executive Vice President of TFO Wealth Partners.

“I had been looking in the Toledo newspaper for help wanted ads,” Adele recalled. “The only other employees were Cleves, Brad, John, and Evelyn. They were looking for an administrative assistant. I took it because I needed a job, but I had no intention of staying. It was a temporary position until I found a better job.”

Adele’s role as an administrative assistant quickly turned into a catch-all at the small firm. She “did anything that needed to be done,” learning a lot about life insurance, benefits, and so much more. The decision to stay at TFO Wealth Partners came with Adele’s decision to stay in Toledo, get married, and have a family, despite prior plans to move away for graduate school.

“What became the most important thing was how to work and be a mother,” Adele said. “I needed a career to grow and be successful in, but I needed to be in a place where family was my priority. I wanted to work and be a really good mother on top of it.” Adele was instrumental in the creation of the investment advisory business in 1993. She naturally gravitated toward the investment advisory sector, explaining that “investments were where my heart was.”

“I was able to grow in responsibility and leadership, as well as working with clients and other team members.” Adele said. “My job changed as the needs of the business changed.” Today, Adele’s role is to work with clients and to help in the leadership and management of the firm. Most of her clients are also Cleves’, and while he meets with them as needed, Adele handles everything that happens in between.

“Some clients I talk to every day. I handle the day-to-day relationship, while Cleves handles the big picture. His skills are being good with people, and mine are handling the details, striving to solve their problems.” One such client is a 93-year-old woman from Dallas who’s been a client of TFO Wealth Partners’ since 1995. Adele recently had the chance to spend a few hours at the client’s home during a trip to Dallas for a conference.

“It’s been a number of years since I’ve seen her. She’s also the sharpest 93-year-old I’ve ever known. It was fun to sit for two hours in her individual living apartment and talk about the past, her family, my family, what she’s worried about in the next steps, and to have that opportunity and length of a relationship with a client to have her invite you into his/her home,” Adele said. “She asked my flight number so she could track my flight on her iPad to make sure she knew what time I was landing and would be over. When I went to leave, I was taking an Uber, and she asked all about it, so I was explaining it to her. Not too many 93-year-olds want to learn about Uber. This client experience was very memorable to me.”