After graduating from Lehigh University in 1981, Schaufeld took a job selling extended warranties to auto dealers. When he learned his employer hadn’t actually taken out policies on all his clients, Schaufeld went into business for himself, working directly with the insurance company and dealers.
That adventure led to Schaufeld launching N.E.W. Customer Services Companies Inc., which issued warranties for consumer products and later merged with phone warranty company Asurion.
Schaufeld went on to co-found investment firm SWaN & Legend, which has purchased stakes in businesses like healthy snack maker Kind LLC and Custom Ink T-shirts. He’s a partner in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NBA’s Washington Wizards, the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics.
A Lehigh University graduate, Schaufeld sits on the boards of the Inova Health Foundation and the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. He and and his wife, Karen, created the Fredrick D. and Karen G. Schaufeld Family Foundation, which has provided more than $40 million to Northern Virginia health systems, among other philanthropic efforts. In March, he received a Horatio Alger Award from the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.