Dave Furhman, Senior Director of Finance, Administration, and Operations, has announced plans to retire at the end of May. He will be missed by the many members of the Campus Life team and the larger Emory community who know him as an outstanding manager, colleague, and friend – always there to ensure excellence, lend a hand, go the extra mile – and offer a bit of humor along the way.
“Dave has been an extraordinary asset to my team, an invaluable source of counsel, and a good friend,” said David Clark, Associate Vice President of Campus Life. “His broad experience and his capacity to see the big picture have served Campus Life and the university exceptionally well. It’s an understatement to say he will be missed.”
Following several decades in campus dining, university communications, and corporate public relations, Dave Furhman came to Emory in January 2013 as Director of Campus Dining and assumed his present position in May 2017. While filling those roles, he also served as Interim Director of Communications and later as Interim Chief Business Officer for Campus Life.
“Emory is an extraordinary university and serving our students as a member of the Campus Life family has been an extraordinary experience,” Dave said. “I hold a great deal of pride in my work here but, more importantly, I’m so proud of the professional growth and accomplishments of my phenomenal team over the years. I’ve never worked with a finer group of professionals.”
Major contributions
Under his leadership for almost a decade with Emory, Dave’s team has made a host of major contributions. A handful are highlighted here.
- Completely revised and upgraded food standards and requirements for the Atlanta campus, including removal of most fast-food brands.
- Developed and executed a competitive food service bid process in 2015-16 and managed the food vendor transition to Bon Appétit.
- Drove the expansion of sustainability activities, including elimination of plastic bags and containers on campus.
- Played an instrumental role in the Emory Student Center capital project, including construction of the “DUC-ling” temporary dining facility, Kaldi’s Coffee Cafe, and Eagle Emporium, as well as the innovative design of Dobbs Common Table.
- Provided oversight and drove renovation of dining venues at the Depot, Highland Bakery, and School of Medicine.
- Revised Farmers Market policies to allow students to use their meal plan dollars to support local vendors.
As acting co-chair of Emory’s Sustainable Food Committee for more than five years, Dave led initiatives such as creating food gardens as educational tools and advancing food purchasing guidelines.
Labor of love
One of Dave’s most enjoyable roles was serving for six years as staff advisor to the Paladin Society and welcoming its student members into his home for meetings to plan how to carry on the organization’s mission to foster school spirit.
He also found great satisfaction in co-creating and teaching culinary classes for students in the Emory College, School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and Marcus Autism Center. He enjoyed the classes and claims to have learned more than his students.
What’s retirement have in store for Dave? His top priority is spending more time with family and friends. Travel is also on the horizon as he and Dale decide where to live when Dale retires in a few years. Wherever that is, Dave emphasized, Emory will never be far from his thoughts.
“My years with Emory have afforded unique opportunities for personal and professional growth in service to one of the greatest higher education institutions anywhere and some of the finest students, faculty, and staff in the world,” Dave said. “I will miss this university community and especially my Campus Life family, to whom I’m deeply grateful.”
Dave will remain in his current position for another four months. “Then it won’t be ‘goodbye’ – but ‘so long’ because you can count on me coming back to visit,” he said, adding with a smile, “like a bad headache.”