Roman Sledziejowski is a Polish-born American businessman.
He began his professional career in New York City at Salomon Smith Barney, Member of Travelers Group at the age of 17 where he worked for the investment bank part-time throughout his final year of high school.
At the age of 18, Roman Sledziejowski became the youngest National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) licensed stockbroker in the United States and began working full time as an Investment Associate at Smith Barney, a Member of Citigroup.
Then, at the age of 25, Roman Sledziejowski became the Senior Vice President and Investment Officer of Wachovia Securities. At the time it was the 3rd largest investment firm in the United States with over 10,000 brokers working in 700 office locations and $680 billion in assets under management.
While at Wachovia Securities, Roman Sledziejowski began to make personal investments in multi-family rental properties in New York, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
Through various partnerships, Roman Sledziejowski purchased and re-developed nearly 400 residential units between 2004 and 2009.
In 2006, Roman Sledziejowski founded Innovest Holdings, a New York City-based financial holding company. Innovest Holdings operated through four main subsidiaries: TWS Financial, LLC: a full-service broker-dealer based in Washington, DC with over $500 million in annual market transactions, servicing primarily foreign high net worth individual clients and international financial institutions. TradeWallStreet.com: one of the leading online Broker/Dealer platforms at the time, catering to individual investors. TWS Investment Partners, LLC: a real estate investment and finance company with over $100 million in real estate projects, and TWS Capital Partners, LLC: an offshore investment advisor with client assets exceeding $1 billion.
In 2007, Roman Sledziejowski co-founded MyPlace Development, Sp. Z o.o., a Poznan, a Poland-based real estate development company. In December of 2009, RJS finalized the sale of his interest in MyPlace Development for $7.3 million in cash to Kulczyk Real Estate Holding SARL in Luxembourg.
In 2013, Roman Sledziejowski co-founded Savant Strategies, an international management consulting firm that provides management consulting services to middle-market companies primarily in Latin America, Europe, and South Africa. Then in 2021, Roman Sledziejowski took on the role of Vice Chairman at Savant Strategies.
We had the chance to interview Roman Sledziejowski where he shared everything from how he manages stress in his professional life to the advice he’d give his younger self.
What are some of the keys to effective decision-making?
Knowing as many facts as possible about the situation at hand is the absolute key to making any educated decisions.
People often rush to make decisions before they fully comprehend all of the factors and forces involved.
What criteria do you use to decide what to do yourself and what to delegate to others?
I try to be honest with myself and always remember what my strengths and weaknesses are. Unless there is absolutely no other way, I try to never tackle anything that I am not good at or dislike doing.
How do you manage the stress of all the things you are not able to complete?
To the extent possible, I try to live my life in “day-tight compartments” remembering that tomorrow is always another day to get things done.
What is the biggest mistake you see others making in business?
Mistaking a good idea for a viable business concept.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Value your time. Time is the most valuable commodity you have. Do not waste it on things and people who are not worth it.
Above all, don’t spread yourself too thin, as it will more than likely lead to failure.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why? (personal or professional)
I bought a vintage Blackberry phone to use for work. I forgot how vastly superior to all of the present-day bells and whistles devices a relatively simple, yet extremely reliable smartphone can be for productive work to get done.
What does your company do to help the community?
Given the fact that we operate in various regions, it’s tough to associate our organization with one particular community. However, this gives us the ability to expand our reach.
We financially and otherwise support numerous charitable initiatives that our team members feel strongly about and volunteer their time with.
Why is your city a great place to live and work?
I love the pace of life in my city and the people that I have the pleasure of interacting with both in a professional and personal capacity.
For the most part, the people here are very kind, good-hearted, decent, honorable, and most importantly lack the “cutthroat” attitude and behavior which is typical in many metropolitan aggregations.
Life has a much slower pace here and there is more time to enjoy the simple things.
Lack of excessive traffic, congestion, and air pollution are all a major plus as well.
What is the one book that you recommend everyone should read and why?
Dale Carnegie’s “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living”. Nowadays more than ever we are all prone to go through periods of anxiety, anger, and frustration. I try to read this book at least once a year and I highly recommend it to everyone willing to read with a completely “open” mindset.
It was written a long time ago, yet it is just as applicable now as it was when it was first published.