Sheri retired from day-to-day activities at SAGEbroadview effective December 31, 2023. She will continue to maintain an ownership position in the firm and will remain on our Board of Directors.
She started phasing into retirement in 2023 by taking on a new role and working on a part-time basis. Our team has done a first-class taking over her responsibilities and we welcome you to reach out to them for assistance going forward.
Before beginning her career in financial planning, Sheri served for 15 years in various roles at General Electric (GE). She initiated her tenure in GE’s prestigious Financial Management Program, expanding into a variety of financial and customer service management positions in GE’s Power Systems group. Among her favorite roles was assisting the HR department by providing specialized employee counsel on company pension, 401(k), insurance and Social Security benefits.
Sheri’s GE tenure was rewarding and fulfilling. So, too, was her decision to break from the fast-paced corporate life in 1996 so that she could concentrate more fully on her family, and prepare for a new career as a business owner and financial planner. During this period, Sheri pursued continuing education in financial planning, with a specialized interest in corporate compensation analysis and management. She also gained first-hand experience in considering family wealth from the vantage point of the at-home parent. In 2001, Sheri became a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® practitioner and founded SAGE Advisory Group, which merged with Larry Annello’s BroadView Financial Planning in 2014 to form SAGEbroadview. Sheri holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Virginia Tech, graduating magna cum laude.
Sheri and her husband Dave, a semi-retired engineer and consultant, live in Morristown, NJ. They always look forward to visits from their oldest son, Dominic, a software engineer living in NC. Devon, their youngest son, has obtained his TESOL certification (Teaching English to speakers of other languages) and will be moving to Italy in 2024 to further his Italian language studies and teach English. We see many visits to Italy in their future!
In May 2008 my family and I were in a serious car accident. My husband Dave and our two sons were banged up but otherwise fine; I could still walk and talk, but I had numerous cuts and contusions and my neck was fractured in two places. Recovery was arduous, and I’ll always have some extra aches and pains, but it could have been so much worse. Countless friends, family and professional associates rallied around me in unimaginable ways, and for this I will be forever grateful.
Then, in March 2019, because I seem to want to do things in a big way every decade or so, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of blood cancer, Primary Mediastinal B-Cell Lymphoma. I endured an arduous months-long immunotherapy and chemotherapy regimen. Once again, my family, friends and professional associates were there for me. My SAGEbroadview team kept things humming for our clients, and our clients were so supportive and understanding. And in October 2019, I was pronounced cancer-free and remain cancer-free today. I am now a volunteer with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s First Connection Peer Program.
These experiences reaffirmed for me that a long healthy life is not guaranteed. Accidents and cancer change the stakes on us. So I remind myself daily to not just endure life, but really live it, practice gratitude for what I have, and see the beauty everywhere. They also strengthened my resolve to help others face their challenges, especially in connecting their financial decisions with their deepest life goals.
I discovered meditation while recovering from my broken neck, and have continued practicing it ever since – at least 10 minutes every day. It’s so critical to my physical and mental stamina, I can always tell if I miss a day or two.
As anyone who follows our blog can tell, I’m a voracious reader, for business and pleasure. My all-time favorite book is Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time.” My nightstand has had a stack of books on it ever since, as do most of our pieces of furniture! Every few years, I have to recycle the contents of my bookshelves to make way for new material.
In May 2018, our eldest son Dominic completed his undergraduate degree in robotics engineering. (He finished his Master’s in the same field in May 2019). My parents were in their 80s, but they still joined us for the mostly outdoor ceremony. The weather was terrible, cold and rainy, so I was worried the day would be ruined. Thankfully, the school let my parents move to the sheltered area up front. This gave my father the chance to walk right up to Dominic while he waited in line for his diploma and shake his hand, and for my mom to give him a big hug. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my father or mother with bigger smiles on their faces than the day their oldest grandson got a college degree. My father immigrated from Italy after World War II and was the first in his family to go to college, so this moment was especially meaningful.
“No matter what happens, no matter how far you seem to be away from where you want to be, never stop believing that you will somehow make it. Have an unrelenting belief that things will work out, that the long road has a purpose, that the things that you desire may not happen today, but they will happen. Continue to persist and persevere.” ~ Brad Gast
“Life astounds us in an instant, changing all we know.” ~ Mary Chapin Carpenter