1981 – Ruth Guillaume joins Griffin, Kubik, Stevens and Thompson where she sold government and municipal bonds.
 
1983 – In order to offer her clients more investments options she joined Channer Financial Services in Itasca.
 
1987 – Channer Financial Services merged into Rodman & Renshaw.
 
1988 – Ruth leaves Rodman & Renshaw and joins The Chicago Corporation in search of a firm that was more client-centric.
 
1993 – Ruth, along with two others, opened a branch office of LPL Financial on LaSalle Street in Chicago.

LPL Financial, founded just 4 years earlier, was a little-known broker dealer that sought to be the independent alternative to traditional Wall Street firms. It was this independence and support for advisors who seek to focus on the best interest of their clients that attracted Ruth to LPL.
 
1996 – Ruth hires Judy Clark as branch operations manager.
 
1999 – Ruth and Judy move the office from downtown Chicago to Inverness.
 
2000 – Ruth hires Eric Freckman as the business continues to grow.

In order to hire, Ruth had to study to have the necessary license to oversee another investment advisor. The more she learned of how to monitor for illegal actions, the more she was convinced that she wanted to hire someone right out of school – without any bad habits from previous work. She made the decision to hire Eric and committed to teaching him how to care for clients on a daily basis.

2005 – Eric and Ruth’s partnership leads to changing the business name to Guillaume & Freckman, Inc.
 
2007 – Ownership begins to transition from Ruth to Eric.

The transition was structured to be a multi-year transition with the goal of giving Ruth the flexibility to work a little bit less and spend more time pursing personal and philanthropic interests.

2008 – Eric and Ruth hire Michael McKevitt to assist in financial planning and portfolio management.
 
2010 – Ruth is fully retired from day to day operations, but remains a part-time consultant.
 
2015 – After nearly 16 years in Inverness, Guillaume & Freckman moves 5 minutes down the road to downtown Palatine. The office is a 100 year old home that was renovated for business use.
 
2017 – Mike became a partner at the beginning of the year.

Having Mike as an owner in the firm provides stability, should anything happen to Eric, as well as signifies the commitment of Eric and Mike’s to be providing their clients advice for the long-term.

2022 – Alex Senyshyn was hired to assist Eric and Mike with financial planning.