Alan Jay Kaufman, Chairman, President and CEO, H.W. Kaufman Financial Group

What was Detroit like when you were growing up there?
It was a great city that was starting to change dramatically. My parents were one of the many families who left the city. I continued to go to high school in the city because I was playing sports and Detroit was the best place to play.

What did you play?
I ran track and played football. I was one of the quarterbacks.

Who was H.W. Kaufman?
That was my father, who founded the company in 1969. He soon thereafter recognized that he had great potential to expand in the wholesale arena serving retail brokers. Dad saw there was a conflict having retail and wholesale together. He had the good foresight in the ’70s to sell his flourishing retail operation to build up the wholesale specialty business.

Growing up, was it assumed you would work for your father?
Not assumed, but my father probably unconsciously groomed me. I went to Michigan State’s business school and thereafter went to law school at Notre Dame and attended the London School of Economics. I had a successful law practice, and since I had competed as an athlete, I equally enjoyed competing as a lawyer. After practicing for more than 15 years, my entrepreneurship side drew me to the business world that my father built. My father had taken the company public, and I took the company private, becoming its owner in 1996.

Why take the company private?
I felt the company was devoting too much of its time to worrying about the public market. My father and senior officers were always torn having to deal with Wall Street, which was focused on short-term interests, while they were trying to make decisions for the long-term interest of company.

And today your older daughter and your son work for Kaufman Financial Group.
My daughter Jodie practiced law for seven years at a very large international firm. After Jodie had her second child about two years ago, she decided not to go back to the practice, which was great because she came to work for us. She’s in Toronto as the vice president and national director for Canada. My son, Danny, who is also a lawyer, practiced law for a short time. Danny is now a senior vice president based in Chicago, and he was recently appointed to the board of directors. It makes me very happy because I’m helping perpetuate our family business. I still think of ourselves as a family business, even though we have over 1,600 employees.

What does your perfect weekend look like?
Playing golf, tennis, running, swimming or biking—I try to keep myself in shape. We’ve taken golf to an interesting level at our company and have sponsored a pro golfer, Jimmy Walker. You’ll now see “Burns & Wilcox” on his shirt. But my weekend almost always includes getting into the office to plan the upcoming week and for a brief meeting.

How did the golf sponsorship happen?
Knowing our clients, much like myself, enjoy golf and like going to tournaments encouraged me to take an opportunity to sponsor Jimmy. It made sense for us to select a golfer who shares many of our brand’s attributes, including competitiveness, expertise and professionalism.

Tell me about your upcoming trip to Antarctica.
I’m on the board of the Detroit Zoo, which is currently building what will be the largest penguin exhibit in the world. The zoo put together a trip for board members and others to travel to Antarctica, which sounded very exciting. It’s an adventure, and I enjoy adventurous travel.

You and your wife made a major endowment to Michigan State University last year. Why?
We established an endowed professorship in insurance and risk management at the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State. To my knowledge, there was not one insurance course taught at Michigan State. I’d like to see more companies step up and support Michigan State’s insurance program or similar programs. There is a significant shortage of insurance talent, and we need to take proactive steps to make an impact.

How would the people you work with describe your management style?
Decisive, forward thinking and entrepreneurial.

If you could change one thing about the insurance industry, what would it be?
The insurance industry should be recruiting better talent and more of it. You just have to allocate a certain percentage of resources to education and professional development. It’s a long-term play.

What gives you your leader’s edge?
We hire and train the very best. We start off with individuals at all levels of experience and expertise who have the core attributes that we demand—competitiveness, professionalism, integrity and dedication to hard work.