Meet the Founder

Mike Kaufman is a Harvard MBA and University of Chicago Social Science PhD whose work spans psychology, anthropology and sociology. He is a pioneer of category-defining research in human development, educator at elite institutions, clinical psychologist, and founder of Kaufman Advisory, a consulting firm for company founders, CEOs and directors. 

Kaufman founded Affiliates in Global Development to fill an unmet need in the global development community for sound, practical advice to mission-driven organizations making crucial contributions to the world.  He draws on decades of experience and an extensive network of academic and consulting colleagues in staffing client teams and providing oversight that ensures timely, high-quality results delivered within cost and scope.

At the University of Chicago Kaufman directed one of the most in-depth studies ever undertaken on adult development and well-being, called the Harvard Student Study of Adult Development.  Findings are chronicled in his book, Redefining Success in America, published by the University of Chicago Press. 

Kaufman has extensive global experience.  He has lived and worked in the Middle East and East Africa.

For the past seven years Kaufman has focused on development projects in East Africa.  For two of those years he served as a US Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at one of Tanzania’s largest academic medical centers, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre.  He built research capacity, improved the curriculum at the medical school, developed strategies for expanding mental health care in the regional medical system, and led still-ongoing population research on mental health and well-being.  

Kaufman has taught clinical psychology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine and leadership in the global executive education program of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and at the Qatari Leadership Center.

Kaufman has held roles in marketing, finance and operations at pioneering companies, including US Robotics, CCC Information Services and First Boston.  

Kaufman resides in Chicago with his wife and son and enjoys backcountry hiking and wilderness excursions, a wide range of movies and discovering other cultures through immersive travel.