For four years, President David Kaufman has served as the leader of the university, but after this current academic school year, he plans to retire.
Before becoming the interim president of the university, Kaufman was the CEO of Encova, an insurance company in Columbus, Ohio.
Upon retiring from the insurance group in 2020, the university approached Kaufman. “I thought they were asking me to join the board,” Kaufman said, “and they said, ‘What would you think about leading the university?’”
Kaufman, a Lutheran, “felt a tug” toward the university because of its Lutheran roots and agreed to serve as interim president for a year to “get [the university] through COVID.” They then asked him to serve for two more years.
“What we’ve been doing is adding a year if my wife agrees,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman told the university that the 2024-2025 academic school year would be his last as president.
Kaufman has spoken to other institutions about “some sharing,” and he told the university, “If I’m playing a key role in any partnerships [at other institutions], I could stay on longer, but if not, I want to make this my last year.”
President Kaufman is proud of his time spent serving the university. He began his position at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, its repercussions lasting another year after Kaufman’s first year as president. Kaufman’s third year involved troubles with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), so Kaufman claims that this last year has been the only “good” one in terms of normalcy.
Kaufman believes he navigated through these difficulties well and is especially proud of a financial improvement he was able to contribute during these difficult times.
“When I came in, our endowment was right at $100 million,” Kaufman said, “and we’re now at just under $150 [million], so we’ve increased our endowment by 40% in four years…I don’t think people recognize how strong we are financially. I feel pretty good about that.”
Kaufman was also a part of the launching of Project Indigo, a program where each student is given an iPad by the university to use for their studies.
A Presidential Search Committee of sixteen people has been established and consists of trustees, faculty, staff members and a student. The committee is currently in the “Pre-search Preparation & Gathering Input” period of the search process.
February through March will serve as the “Recruitment & Application” period, April through May will serve as the “Reviewing & Interviewing Candidates” period and the new president will begin serving the university in August.
Kaufman believes the university needs a president who is skilled in fundraising, running a business and relating to all departments of the university, whether it be athletic, artistic, etc.
He shared he would like to see a higher enrollment of students and an expansion of university programs.
“Maybe the bigger schools have a shinier thing to show than we do,” Kaufman said, “but we’ve got the real personal curriculum…The reputation is there…I would like to publicize that [and] improve our brand awareness [so] that people really know what happens here.”
Kaufman, who loves working with others and taking a team approach to situations, hopes that students and staff of the university will remember him as a collaborative leader. He feels that leaving the people of the university will be the most difficult part of his retirement.
“I think just how much I have loved it here,” Kaufman said. “[I] learned to really love the students. Everything that happens at Capital…is special.”
