Official of Perrysburg firm will be honored for business advice

Jennifer Alford refl ects on her success.

Jennifer Alford is not averse to being labeled a cover girl.

"I love it; it's great," said the vice president and a partner of Creative Financial Partners in Perrysburg.

She is on the cover of this month's issue of Advisor Today magazine as a winner of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors' annual Four Under Forty award.

Ms. Alford, 27, will get her award at the group's national convention for about 8,000 in San Francisco in late August and will conduct a workshop for several hundred young advisers.

"I'm a little nervous," she said yesterday.

The magazine, which has a circulation of more than 85,000, headlined the article about her: "Community is key; Jennifer Alford's success is deeply rooted in the place where she lives and works." It pointed out that she is involved in a number of organizations.

"If you saw my calendar, you'd laugh," she said. "I've got it color-coded. It's very detailed." Her husband, Chris Alford, "is very patient and understanding," she added.

Ms. Alford is a board member and treasurer of the Toledo Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors; president of the Exchange Club Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse; a board member of the Women's Entrepreneurial Network, and teacher of a networking course at Davis College.

"I met most of my clients - probably 80 percent - through the organizations I belong to," she said. "I give back to those organizations because they have been good to me, and I do the rest because I really want to."

She started working as an intern at Savage & Associates in Toledo while still a student at Whitmer High School. For five years, she and two other partners of her current firm were financial advisers for the Toledo office of New England Financial.

Then they opened their own Perrysburg business in early 2005. Creative Financial now employs 18.

"Jennifer has capitalized on meeting people and helping others be successful," said Ken Widdel, one of the partners who has worked with her at all three firms.

At her workshop in San Francisco, she said, she will tell young advisers "to stay in touch with people, not just do annual reviews. People want a relationship [with advisers]."

Contact Homer Brickey at:

homerbrickey@theblade.com

or 419-724-6129.