Thirty years of heart, growth, and relationships: Celebrating Terri D’Alie
Thirty years ago, Terri D’Alie walked into a small financial planning office on Durand Avenue in Racine for a job interview.
She was 27 years old, had a three-year-old and a nine-month-old at home, and was ready for something new. She remembers sitting in the lobby waiting for her interview when Mike Haubrich came through the door and hurried right past her toward his office.
Terri remembers thinking, “Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into with this guy?”
Apparently, she decided to find out.
Thirty years later, Terri is still here—and it is difficult to tell the story of Financial Service Group without telling Terri’s story, too.
Growing up alongside FSG
The FSG Terri joined in 1996 looked very different from the firm our clients know today.
There was one advisor and a very small support staff. Client files were paper. The paper appointment book was literally passed from person to person. Technology that we now take for granted simply didn’t exist.
Today, FSG has a larger team, multiple advisors and technology that allows us to serve clients in ways that would have been difficult to imagine in 1996. Terri has watched the financial services profession change along with it—from technology and cybersecurity to compliance and regulation.
But Terri hasn’t simply watched that transformation. She has been part of it.
“I kind of feel like I’ve grown up alongside FSG in many ways,” she says. “FSG was still pretty young when I joined, so I feel like I grew up with FSG. I’m very proud of what we’ve all built.”
Over those three decades, Terri says she has grown in her “knowledge, skills, judgment and confidence.” She also learned something that anyone who has worked with Terri probably already knows: she is exceptionally good at adapting.
Her secret?
Maybe a lifetime of practice.
With a smile, Terri describes both work and family life over the years as containing a certain amount of “constant chaos.” Along the way, adapting, solving problems, and figuring out what needed to happen next simply became second nature to her.
Those are more than keys to Terri’s success. They are essential elements in her day-to-day role as a leader at FSG.
“Terri has put up with me and my sometimes-crazy ideas for 30 years,” said Mike Haubrich. “That’s remarkable. She has always found the right balance in pushing back when needed, but more often saying, “I’ll get it done.”
More than a job
“I remember asking myself after I first interviewed Terri, “Why is this woman with all these credentials want to work in Wisconsin? She could have gone to Chicago or New York,” Mike added. “I was thrilled to have her join FSG, but I wondered how long it would be before some big firm came after her.”
Ask Terri why she stayed at FSG for 30 years, though, and the answer becomes much more personal.
When she joined FSG, her children were very young. As they grew up, Terri was given the flexibility to build a career without feeling as though she had to sacrifice being their mom.
“The flexibility that Mike gave me while my children were growing up was honestly priceless to me at the time,” Terri says. “I was able to work hours that allowed me to be home with them after school. I was able to attend all their sporting events and other activities.”
Then comes the line that perhaps best explains why 30 years at FSG has meant so much to her:
“I never felt that I had to choose between being committed to my job and being present for my children. I’ll just always be grateful for that,” she says.
At the same time, Terri was continually challenged to grow professionally. Over the years, she was entrusted with greater responsibility and encouraged to stretch beyond what was comfortable.
“I’m just proud that Mike trusted me enough to give me the responsibilities he did over the years,” she says. “He knew how to push me out of my comfort zone just enough to encourage me to take on new responsibilities and to learn new things. The level of confidence and trust that he had in me is definitely something I’ve never taken for granted.”
The people make the memories
Thirty years creates a lot of stories and quite a few that probably shouldn’t make it into an official FSG newsletter.
But when Terri talks about her favorite memories, she doesn’t start with technology, offices, or business milestones.
She talks about people.
“My fondest memories, honestly, are about a lot of the people that I’ve worked with over the years,” she says.
Coworkers became friends. Families grew up together. Babies visited the office. Careers began and ended. People came and went, and some friendships continued long after people stopped working together.
And, of course, there are the clients.
Some of the clients Terri met during her first few years at FSG are still clients today. They knew Terri when her children were babies. Thirty years later, some still ask her how her children (who now have children of their own!) are doing. Children, and in some cases, grandchildren of those original clients are still part of the FSG client family.
“I just think that’s amazing,” Terri says. “And it means so much to me.”
Those relationships help explain something fundamental about Terri and about FSG.
Financial planning may involve investments, taxes, retirement projections and countless financial decisions, but over decades, the work becomes intertwined with people’s lives. The relationships deepen as you witness graduations, weddings, illnesses and funerals, new careers and retirements. Grandchildren arrive. Parents age. Families experience celebrations, losses and life transitions.
Terri has been there for thousands of those moments with our clients.
“What an incredible privilege it has been to be part of their lives and to help them through so many different stages and transitions,” she says. “The personal relationships that I have formed with so many of them are honestly one of the things I treasure most about working for Financial Service Group.”
Thirty years—and a lot to celebrate
Three decades with one organization is increasingly rare. But longevity alone isn’t what we’re celebrating.
We’re celebrating what happened during those 30 years.
As FSG changed, so did Terri. She learned new systems, assumed new responsibilities and helped coworkers find their footing. She helped the firm move from paper files and a shared appointment book to the enhanced technology organization it is today.
Most importantly, she helped take care of people.
That includes the people who worked beside her and the clients who placed their trust in FSG.
Terri puts it beautifully:
“I’m very proud of what we’ve all built. I’m grateful for the trust Mike placed in me, and I’m thankful for all of the coworkers and clients who have been part of all of my 30 years. Everybody played a role in where we are today and where I am today.”
And Terri has certainly played a role in where FSG is today.
A very big one.
So, from all of us at Financial Service Group, and on behalf of all those whose lives you’ve touched along the way, congratulations, Terri, on 30 remarkable years.
Thank you for your loyalty, your adaptability, your humor, your willingness to learn, your care for our clients and, above all, the heart you’ve brought to FSG for three decades.
Happy 30th anniversary, Terri. We’re very glad that 27-year-old sitting in the Durand Avenue lobby decided to stick around.
