����̽̽

Senior Lecturer David Kaufman puts the business and marketing side of recreation and tourism into the Parks, Recreation and Tourism (PRT) Program in the ����̽̽ Rubenstein School. He has taught marketing and entrepreneurship courses in the School for the last 35 years. He’s advised students on career choices and business ventures for just as long.

In 1980, the School needed a marketing instructor for the then Recreation Management program, and Dave, a part-time instructor at Lyndon State College, jumped at the chance to teach closer to home. This fall marks his 36th time teaching what became PRT 158 Resort Marketing and Management in the Rubenstein School. Then, in the 1990s, in response to student demand, he added an entrepreneurship course, now PRT 258 Entrepreneurship in Recreation and Tourism. When former Professor Al Gilbert retired, Dave also took on the Ski Area Management course and each year accompanies his students to the slopes of Stowe Resort for a week of ski area business immersion before spring semester starts.

Dave has also team taught Tourism Planning with Professor Robert Manning, Eco-Tourism with Professor Walter Kuentzel, and NR 6 Race and Culture in Natural Resources with other Rubenstein School faculty and staff. He has led the Lola and George D. Aiken Scholars’ 1-credit seminar course for the past eight years.

His courses are derived from his own business and tourism experiences and connections. Originally from New York State, Dave grew up on the slopes of Mount Snow, one of the first major ski areas in Vermont. He decided early on that all he wanted to do was go into the ski business. After graduating from Ithaca College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, he began working at Mount Snow and quickly moved into upper management.

Although still a skiing enthusiast, in the early 1980s, he switched gears and began working on special projects for the state in the Vermont Department of Travel and Tourism, now the Department of Tourism and Marketing. And in 1984, his next venture was to take on his own business – Vermont Tourism Network, a South Burlington-based company that brought tourists to Vermont in the group market. For 25 years, he worked with 150 different businesses in Vermont to host tourist groups that introduced thousands of tourists to the state.

During his tenure as a leader in group tourism in Vermont, Dave was honored with both the Vermont Travel Industry Person of the Year Award and the Friend of the Industry Award.

“I had a good time bringing business to Vermont,” he shares. “Tourism is a fun business. You have to know a lot about how to get people here and have a lot of connections. In Vermont, it’s all about having fun in the outdoors. An overwhelming percentage of Vermont tourism is outdoors, unlike more urbanized areas.”

Dave contributed to the state and his home community of South Burlington in many other ways. For 10 years, Dave represented South Burlington in the state legislature for five terms serving on and chairing the House Transportation Committee. He worked on policy related to roads and transportation safety and helped to write the first Vermont law for infant car seats and to introduce the first seat belt law for adults. He was also involved in the final design of South Burlington’s Dorset Street reconstruction.

Dave’s work and service experience is a big part of his teaching. His industry associates have become regular guest lecturers in his classes and provide sites for field trips, including the week at Stowe Resort, and opportunities for student internships and jobs.

In PRT 158, all his students participate in work experiences through his connections with colleagues and his memberships in industry associations. Dave remains on the Board of the Vermont Convention Bureau since its inception 24 years ago. He is also currently on the tourism committee for the Vermont Chamber of Commerce and has served on its Board. His connections include many Rubenstein School alumni, and he makes a point of maintaining contact with alumni in the tourism and business world who often hire his students.

Alum Issa Sawabini (RM ’99), long-time co-owner of Fuse, a hugely successful international youth and sports marketing firm in Winooski, Vermont, shares, “Dave was an amazing teacher who understood how to combine academic insights with real world experience. While I was at ����̽̽, he helped me discover the opportunities available in the world of marketing and sparked my passion for entrepreneurship. Dave continues to be a friend and mentor today, and our Fuse internship program wouldn’t be the same without his exceptional students.”

As director of the PRT program for the past year, Dave collaborated with the PRT faculty to make some ambitious changes to strengthen the program. In the past, PRT students selected courses based on their choice of the public or the private option in recreation and tourism. Now students are required to take all PRT courses and to focus on internships and jobs for their public vs. private options. And Lecturer John Abbott’s Wilderness Education and Leadership course, including two weekends of outdoor training, is now required.

Dave was also instrumental in instituting a new Sports Management minor in the School in collaboration with ����̽̽’s School of Business Administration, College of Education and Social Services, and Community Development and Applied Economics Department in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“In addition to resort or ski area management, many of our students want to manage sports, from community recreation all the way to professional teams,” explains Dave. “Because of student demand, a group of us from across campus felt it was time to bring the Sports Management minor on board. Pending ����̽̽ Trustees’ approval this fall, the new minor will become official. Many of my students are already taking courses to prepare for the minor.”

Each year for the past four years, Rubenstein School PRT students have taken the top prize in the School of Business Administration’s ����̽̽ Entrepreneurship competition. Much of that success stems from Dave Kaufman and his entrepreneurship course. He requires students to create a business from start to finish —identifying one that will succeed, creating a business plan, and putting that plan into action. This year, senior Ben Leduc (PRT ’16) won for his agri-tourism business plan to reincarnate his family’s farm in Alburg, Vermont into an organic dairy farm, retail farm store, and bed and breakfast.

“Dave gave me his first-hand experiences and industry success stories to encourage me to develop my business plan,” explains Ben. “I would not have had the tools or means to deliver such a detailed and well-executed business plan without his support. With his many years of involvement in both the tourism industry and entrepreneurial ventures, I could not think of a better person to be teaching these courses in the PRT Program at ����̽̽.”

“PRT alumni work in the ski resort and equipment industries, the hotel and resort industry, at national, state and local parks, and in other recreation- and tourism-related businesses all over the U.S. and the world,” Dave shares. “As I’ve gotten older, I see the need for the next generation in the tourism and recreation industry. We can educate that next generation in the Rubenstein School and get them started in careers. I can’t think of anything more rewarding.”

Dave lives in South Burlington with his wife Jane who owns Phoenix Physical Therapy. They have three sons: Christopher (����̽̽ ’04), Matthew (St. Michael’s College ’07), and Andrew (����̽̽ ’12) who have all followed in their parents’ footsteps and pursued careers in business and finance. Dave’s love of skiing has not waned. If he isn’t skiing on the slopes of Vermont, he’s water skiing at the family lake house in the Adirondack Mountains of New York.