Michael L. Kaufman

Winner of Readers' Favorite Silver Medal Award in Non-Fiction: Education (2024)

Winner of Book Excellence Award in Career Category (2025)

Michael Kaufman, MSW, PhD, is delighted to have published his first book, which is the culmination of his lessons and insights gleaned over a 30-year career in the helping professions, most notably social work and special education.

What makes his perspective so distinct is the unique blend he brings to all his professional endeavors, combining his “heart of a social worker” with “head of a business executive” to create an uncommon merger that leads companies, effects change, and improves lives.

With a bachelor’s degree in accounting, a master’s degree in social work, and a doctoral degree in clinical psychology, Mike currently directs the special education management and consulting company he co-founded in 2017. Prior to that, he launched the start-up of a now-blossoming teletherapy company and served at the helm of Specialized Education Services, Inc. (SESI)—first as COO, then CEO—one of the largest privatized schooling companies for students with special needs in the country.

A public speaker, college professor, and graduate of Harvard Business School’s Key Executives Program, Mike wanted to share his career path with fellow helping professionals to empower their own rise to organizational leadership, particularly by championing their natural proclivities and abilities. The result is Doing Good & Doing Well: Inspiring Helping Professionals to Become Leaders in Their Organizations (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023).

In all that Mike does, he lives by the Churchill motto “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”