The Altman Story

Sheldon “Shelly” Altman is accepted into the University of Illinois Mechanical Engineering school and becomes the first college educated member of his family. 

Shelly graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and worked as a naval engineer GS-11 Lieutenant upon graduating. 

In the Vietnam War, Shelly was given the assignment to develop “Plan B” for the torpedo testing equipment the Navy was lacking. “Plan A” was to develop a digital tester, but they could not develop it in time. By happenstance, Plan B ended up being the last analog torpedo tester deployed on every Destroyer and Destroyer Escort for the duration of the War.  

Strongly influenced by the future Nobel Laureate, Milton Friedman, Shelly is accepted to the University of Chicago Executive MBA night program where Friedman taught. 

Shelly earned an MBA from the University of Chicago and began working for IBM selling their original computers, later displayed at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. These computers made obsolete the slide rule he used in the U.S. Navy. 

Shelly left IBM and began his finance career at the esteemed A.G. Becker in the Funds Evaluation Department. Becker, the founder, was a pioneer in the pension consulting business with the creation of "Green Book" tables comparing results to benchmarks, to help identify the performance of institutional investors. Shelly took this as his first assignment, to help institutional investors understand their performance relative to competitors and the S&P 500. 

Shelly became an early recipient of the Series 1 Registered Representative FINRA License (CRD# 4089). 

Shelly became licensed as a Registered Principal for A.G. Becker after an assignment to begin a business for them on the newly formed CBOE (Chicago Board of Options Exchange) floor. He helped institutional investors value options with the Black-Scholes Model. 

Shelly earned his investment chops in the bear markets that accompanied the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973, and the “stagflation” and high interest rates that followed. 

After Shelly’s assignment for A.G. Becker at the CBOE, the NYSE called to offer him a position to bring options to their exchange. They wanted to "copy" the CBOE. He told them he would only do it if they evolved the Options market to include options on the S&P 500 in addition to individual equities. They said no. He declined the position. Today the S&P 500 option is the highest volume traded option in the world.

Shelly began the business that later became known as Altman Advisors. 

Shelly migrated the business to Oppenheimer & Co, where he introduced fiduciary standards and discretionary portfolio management.

Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States and implemented policy changes that kicked off a 17-year bull market three years later.

The Black Monday stock market crash taught Shelly not to panic during a frenetic market and helped to forge the Altman mettle that would serve them well in the crises yet to come.

The United Airlines/American Airlines merger collapsed, teaching another valuable lesson to Shelly to avoid using both concentration and leverage. 

Oppenheimer forged the “Omega Program” of fee-based (versus commission-based) advising, aligning their financial interests with those of their clients.

Shelly was given Managing Director title and became the largest discretionary, fee-based portfolio manager at Oppenheimer in the U.S, building on his discretionary business started in 1979, and earning him the nickname “Omega Man.”   

The Persian Gulf War broke out and sparked a recession, creating another difficult period for the markets.

President Bill Clinton "reached across the aisle" and worked with Congress for policy changes that spurred another bull market.

This period was one of hard knocks. The “dot-com bubble” burst, followed by the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, which put us back into the recession we had already come out of. The crisis proved to be an invaluable learning experience, and the Altman Group evolved considerably from it.

The Altman Group migrated the business to UBS from Oppenheimer & Co, where Shelly was joined by his son and protégé, Benjamin “Ben” Altman. 

The Group began managing liabilities in addition to assets, handling both sides of the balance sheet, and expanding insurance planning services as well. 

Ben became licensed with FINRA (CRD# 4,249,622) and developed the asset allocation models, including Alternative Investments, that are still in use today, by studying what worked and what didn’t during the dot-com bubble. 

The Altman Group became true “Wealth Managers,” developing and implementing multi-generational Financial Independence Plans for every client, expanding on their original Asset Management foundation. 

Shelly achieved Chairman’s Club status by being in the top 1% of UBS in America. 

The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) was caused when a bubble in the U.S. housing market burst, triggering the “Great Recession,” which spread around the world through linkages in the global financial system. 

The Lehman Brothers investment bank, with heavy exposure to the subprime mortgage market, saw its mortgage-backed securities become worthless and collapsed. 

With lessons learned from this bear market, the Altman Group implemented new defensive strategies in their allocation models. Ben took the Credit Portfolio management to new heights, turning the crisis into an opportunity. 

To more fully round out their client-centric service, Ben became a Certified Financial Planner™ and, following in his father’s footsteps, also became a Senior Portfolio Manager.

Now known as the Altman Financial Group, they became the largest discretionary, fee-based portfolio managers at UBS in Chicago. 

The Altman Financial Group breached $200,000,000 under management and never went below that number again.  

Drawing on their origins from 1974, The Altman Financial Group added Options management to their Asset Management services. 

The Altman Financial Group adopted the Supernova® client service model with regular monthly appointments and one-hour rapid response time to meet clients’ needs or problems.

The Altman Financial Group minimum assets for new client relationships jumped to $3,000,000. 

Shelly achieved Managing Director and Chairman’s Circle status, the highest honors at UBS Financial Services. 

Ben and Shelly Altman launched Altman Advisors as an independent, fiduciary, Multi-Family Office, located on the 97th floor of the tower formerly known as Sears, with Ben as CEO & Chief Investment Officer and Shelly as Chairman.

Altman Advisors surpassed $250,000,000 under management after their first year in business. 

Ben makes Crain’s Chicago’s 40 Notable Advisers list.[i] 

Altman Advisors raised their minimum assets for new client relationships to $5,000,000. 

[i] The honorees did not pay to be included. Their profiles were drawn from the nomination materials submitted. The list features only individuals for whom nominations were submitted and accepted after a review by Crain’s editorial team. To qualify for the list, nominees must be based in the Chicago area, currently employed full time at a financial institution or company offering wealth management services, have a minimum of five years of experience, and oversee at least $10 million in assets under advisement.

Altman Advisors added Tax Planning, Estate Planning, and Bill Pay Services, rounding out their Family Office Group services, making the firm a complete Multi-Family Office. 

Ben joined the Chicago chapter of EO (Entrepreneur’s Organization). 

COVID-19 hit the economy and markets. Altman Advisors adapted and broke $300,000,000 under management. 

Professor Philip Gordon, “the real Dr. Phil,” joined the firm as Director of Communication and began to author the Quarterly Market Commentary. 

Altman Advisors began using EOS™ and Culture Index™ to increase the efficiency of the business. 

Ethan Goff joined the Leadership Team as Director of Operations.  

Altman Advisors established the Asset Management and Family Office Groups, and hired Michael Santarelli, an institutional Portfolio Manager, to carry on the legacy of Sheldon and Ben for the Asset Management Group.  

George Rudawski joined the team as the lead Credit Portfolio Manager. 

Ryan Safko joined the team as our Family Office Planner to lead Advanced Planning for the firm.  

Michael Santarelli became the Director of the Asset Management Group. 

Ben was welcomed in YPO (Young President’s Organization) Chicagoland, with 15 employees and over $350,000,000 under management. 

Michael Santarelli was promoted to EOS Integrator for the firm.  

In response to the October 7th Hamas Terrorist attacks, Ben and Phil spearheaded the Friends in Israel Partnership for Altman Advisors with an effort to support the Jewish and Israeli communities around the world. Ben joins the newly founded 18 Lions Jewish-advocacy business organization.

Anthony Craven joined the firm as Senior Family Office Associate.

Franca Ovanda joined the firm as Executive Assistant to the CEO.  

Ben joined YPO United Mosaic Integrated Chapter and becomes a member of EO Israel.  

Altman Advisors breaks $400,000,0000 under management