CORNING — Even as a child, John UIlman had a gift for numbers, memorizing statistics from the newspaper’s sports section. When his father wanted to read sports, he traded Ullman the business section. Before long, Ullman was noting stock prices and “recognizing changes and trends,” recounts Christopher Houghtaling, director of business development at John G. […]
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CORNING — Even as a child, John UIlman had a gift for numbers, memorizing statistics from the newspaper’s sports section. When his father wanted to read sports, he traded Ullman the business section. Before long, Ullman was noting stock prices and “recognizing changes and trends,” recounts Christopher Houghtaling, director of business development at John G. Ullman & Associates, Inc.
Following college and graduate school, Ullman joined Corning Inc. in New York’s Southern Tier, where co-workers noticed his acumen with finances and began asking him for advice. After unsuccessfully looking for a financial advisor to whom he could recommend fellow Corning employees, he started his own wealth-management business.
That was in 1978. Last fall, Ullman marked his company’s 40th anniversary by taking his employees on a trip to San Francisco, Houghtaling says in a phone interview.
J.G. Ullman & Associates currently has 1,001 clients, most of whom are from the region. Thanks in part to Corning Inc.’s far-flung operations as well as alumni, J.G. Ullman & Associates has clients in 40 states and some overseas, he adds. Among clients are some who are the second or even the third generation turning to the firm for financial guidance.
Through those clients, the firm has amassed $970 million in assets under management, Houghtaling says.
He explains that unlike many investment advisory firms, J.G. Ullman & Associates does not sell mutual funds or insurance to its clients. Instead it provides “comprehensive wealth management” and financial-planning services. It charges its clients a flat fee based on assets under management. “We don’t see anything from the insurance company,” Houghtaling says. “We do not do quid pro quo.”
“And comprehensive wealth management means comprehensive,” says Houghtaling. Clients get advice on stocks to buy, on insurance to consider — and referrals to brokers — but the services go beyond that. The firm has helped clients with everything from choosing a credit card to car shopping to deciding which Medicare Part B plan to purchase.
Ullman himself has even called around to doctors and hospitals to get a client the right care, Houghtaling says.
“The extreme closeness of relationships with families, typically on a very long-term basis has been an extraordinary privilege which has at least met the highest expectations when the firm was started,” Ullman says in an email message.
Among the firm’s advisors are some versed in specialties that may be of particular interest to clients including timber, oil, gas, and other natural resources, not-for-profits, and laws relating to equestrian interests and farms.
J.G. Ullman & Associates kept a very low profile for its first 20 years, Houghtaling says. The office on East Market Street in Corning didn’t even have a sign out front. The founder didn’t want people to see someone walking in and know that they had wealth to manage.
With little fanfare, the firm added an affiliate in Rochester in 1995 and acquired a wealth-management firm in the Hudson Valley in 1998.
New Big Flats HQ
As J.G. Ullman & Associates has grown, the company has raised its profile. Since 2016, it has added 10 junior advisors. In 2018, the firm hired marketing and business development professionals, part of its growth plan.
The growth plan also included the recent move of the company’s headquarters to 19,000 square feet of space near the Elmira Corning Regional Airport in Big Flats. The headquarters is located at 343 Daniel Zenker Drive. J.G. Ullman & Associates is planning to hold a grand-opening celebration in the beginning of May.
At Ullman’s insistence, the company will continue to maintain its offices on East Market Street in Corning’s Gaffer District. “That’s our roots,” Houghtaling says.
Among J.G. Ullman & Associates’ now-70 employees, 62 percent are female. Of 26 advisors, 14 are women and among corporate officers, 38 percent are women, Houghtaling says.
Ullman notes that five employees have been with the firm for more than 30 years and many have been there more than 20 years. The company recruits professionals with long-term careers in mind. The firm’s recruitment goal for 2019 is 10 new hires.
Now 70, Ullman remains involved in the business nearly every day, Houghtaling says, but has begun transitioning leadership. With no family members active in the business, Ullman has been ceding duties to Senior Vice President Jason Nickerson.
“John will never fully retire. He will always have an active role in the management, investment selection, and client relationships,” Houghtaling says, “but he is allowing Jason to take over a lot of the day-to-day.”
The new, larger headquarters, the enlarged staff, and the addition of marketing and business development personnel underline J.G. Ullman & Associates’ commitment to growth. The space in Big Flats can be expanded to 40,000 square feet if and when the need arises, Houghtaling notes.
Ullman, he says, “is really building something for the long run and taking the time to groom the next generation.”
