Crisis Management #42: Capital University's Dave Kaufman on applying a business mind to higher education - Women Of Influence

Capital University’s interim president Dave Kaufman doesn’t have a background in higher education, but the former Encova Insurance CEO is leading the university during one of the toughest periods for colleges and universities: the Covid-19 crisis.

Kaufman, who talked with Columbus Business First for the latest edition of our Crisis Management podcast, said his nontraditional background has allowed him to take the best of the business world and translate it into leading the Central Ohio university during a challenging time.

Kaufman retired from Encova at the end of 2019, and joined Capital as interim president in June of 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. Capital announced last year that due to the pandemic, the school would suspend its search for a new president, unable to conduct the in-person interviews needed to do a full search. Kaufman is expected to lead the Bexley university for two years or less.

“It is no doubt with Covid and everything facing us, there’s a plateful of challenges,” Kaufman said. “But I am finding that a lot of what I’ve experienced corporately, I’ve been able to apply that here. I feel good about that, that I’ve been able to kind of help the team move a little more effectively than maybe they would have under someone without the experience I had.”

Kaufman said that in both the business world and higher education, “it really comes down to the same thing, building that trust and getting clarity on shared goals to execute (a vision).”

Kaufman said his leadership offers a new lens, “making we can take a different approach than has been considered in past.”

“That’s what they’re kind of counting on me to do,” Kaufman said.

One of his goals with Covid-19 is to “innovate through it,” he said.

For example, with the improvement in virtual learning, Kaufman said there could be a way where multiple universities could partner and offer a broader array of programs, leveraging each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and sharing costs.

“How do our programs compliment others so you can have a broader portfolio of products and services to package?” Kaufman said. “There’s opportunities to blend things that complement each other. (For instance) I’m at Capital, but I have access to courses at two other universities still being a Capital student. You’re not tied to the geographic location like you were maybe three or four years ago.”