A Conversation with Alumnus Dr. Steven Kaufman
We sat down with Organizational Leadership alumnus, Dr. Steven Kaufman. Dr. Kaufman has held C-Level positions in various real estate enterprises for 20 years. He is the Founder & CEO of ZeusLending.com, an online provider of real estate financing in the U.S., commercial real estate investment firm Zeus Equity Group, and Founder & President of New York Mutual, which provides bespoke lending, servicing, and financial management services to institutional and private clients throughout the United States and abroad.
“I come from very humble beginnings and, like many of my peers, I initially dropped out of school to work. In my late teens, I realized that the way to alter the course of my life was education. That is how my lifelong love of learning began.”
According to Inc. Magazine, with more than 17,000 transactions, Zeus is the 37th fastest growing private financial service firm in the United States. Dr. Kaufman has been interviewed by local and national news organizations like FOX, ABC, CBS, CNN, and Bloomberg on the financial markets, and he is a contributing author at Entrepreneur.com.
“My experience at Chicago School gave me a deeper understanding and appreciation for organizational dynamics, specifically trust. This enhanced insight has expanded my tools and vision helping me to be a better leader and create a better work environment for our organizations.”
National Mortgage Professional Magazine has repeatedly ranked Dr. Kaufman as one of the “Top 40 Most Influential Mortgage Professionals in the United States”, and the Houston Business Journal ranked him as one of the “Top CEOs in Houston”.
For more than a decade, he served on the board of directors for the oldest and largest real estate investment association in the United States (The RICH Club). He has served on the board of directors for the Houston Mortgage Association and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Dr. Kaufman currently sits on the Overseas Appropriations Committee for the Jewish Federation of Houston and the Dean’s Advisory Council for the University of Houston School of Business
Dr. Kaufman’s advice to students?
“Try to step back and see the big picture. It is easy to get lost in the details. Additionally, ‘How you finish matters.’ We all start things that have unexpected outcomes and challenges, from a diet to a new project, but how you finish matters much more than how you start.”