Fred D. Schaufeld (born September 23, 1959) is an entrepreneur, venture capital investor,[1] [2] sports team owner, philanthropist[3] and patent holder.
Schaufeld is a co-founder and managing director of SWaN & Legend Venture Partners (SWaN). He is a partner in Monumental Sports & Entertainment. He also is a partner in the Washington Nationals (MLB), Team Liquid (esports), the Professional Fighters League and the Hill Top House Hotel,[4] Harpers Ferry, WV.
Schaufeld owns American Bike Ride, parent of the DC Bike Ride and currently sits on the boards of Sugar23, DuraStat, José Andrés Group, Mindshow, Georgiamune and Telos (Nasdaq: TLS). He previously was an advisor to the boards of Cava, ClassEDU, Growcentia and Biothred and previously sat on the boards of American Honors College, Anonymous Content,[5] Asurion, Bio-Warn, Framebridge,[6] KIND Healthy Snacks, NEW, OrderGroove and SocialRadar.
Prior to SWaN, Schaufeld founded and led National Electronics Warranty Corporation (NEW),[7] which was acquired by Asurion in 2008 (now NEW Asurion). NEW Asurion is the world's largest consumer product protection company, employing more than 20,000 people worldwide. During his tenure, NEW was recognized by Inc. Magazine in its "Inc. 500" list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. Mr. Schaufeld is the patent holder of the Rigid Insurance Form (Patent #4,874,187)[8] and a Founder and former President of the Service Contract Industry Council (SCIC), a national Extended warranty trade association that works with lawmakers across the country to develop fair and uniform regulation to protect consumers.
In 1996, Schaufeld and his partner, Tony Nader, presented the financially troubled Best Buy Corporation (NYSE: BBY) with their concept: "Making Best Buy Even Better," suggesting comprehensive consumer extended warranties could be sold without pressure or sales commissions at significantly lower prices than offered by BBY's main competitor, Circuit City. The adoption of the program led BBY to become the single biggest NYSE large-cap turnaround/growth stock as of that time.
Along with Anthony Nader and Cliff White, Schaufeld co-founded SWaN Investors in 2006. He is one of five managing directors of SWaN & Legend, a multi-stage venture capital firm that invests in high-growth, high-quality organizations and the entrepreneurs behind them. A few of the companies in which the firm has invested include Anonymous Content, Sugar23,[9] Custom Ink, KIND Healthy Snacks, Optoro, Quad Learning, Inc., José Andrés Group, Framebridge[10] and UrbanStems.[11]
Fred Schaufeld was born in Long Island, NY, in 1959. He is a recipient of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He received the 2023 Horatio Alger Award from the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.[12] He is a member of The Economic Club of Washington, DC, the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) and its Peace Action Network Arab American Action Forum. Mr. Schaufeld has been quoted extensively in numerous publications and has appeared on CNN and NPR.
Schaufeld and his wife, Karen, live in Virginia and are active in organizations dedicated to education, health, environment, peace, inter-faith tolerance, military support and the arts. He is the former chairman of the Inova Health System Foundation and sits on the board of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. He is a member of Venture Philanthropy Partners and a supporter of the Schaufeld Family Heart Center[13] of the Inova Loudoun Hospital; the Schaufeld Program for Prostate Cancer in Black Men of the Johns Hopkins University Hospital; the Fredrick D. and Karen G. Schaufeld Lower School of Loudoun Country Day School, Leesburg, VA; the Fredrick D. Schaufeld Scholarship program, Westbury, NY; Lehigh University's Karen Shihadeh Schaufeld and Fredrick D. Schaufeld Endowed Scholarship Fund and Joachim Schaufeld Center for Jewish Life; the Emil and Grace Shihadeh Innovation Center,[14] Winchester, VA; All Ages Read Together; 100WomenStrong; and the OneVoice Movement. He is a recipient of the Loudoun Laurels Award and the Loudoun County Boy Scouts' Good Scout Award.
Schaufeld earned his BA in government from Lehigh University.[26]