In the threshold of the wooden doors of Siena Hall is an indentation, President Seifert explains from his office.
“If you open the door on the right hand side, and you look down, there’s a divot. The indentation in the threshold in the stone has been created by the hundreds of thousands of students and community members that have crossed that threshold.” It appears in this observation that President Seifert is acutely in tune to the impact that community members make from the moment they step foot on the Siena campus- in this case, an impact that may be unknown to many of them. To him, this place is a tribute to the indelible mark each Siena community member makes: a sacred space that becomes a more endearing tribute the more it is worn by foot traffic. His reflections on the threshold, and his palatable reverence for it, informs the core of his leadership objectives as he enters his new position as the 13th President of Siena College: “You have to honor the community members that have gone across the threshold in the past and position the school in a way to honor all of those community members that go over the threshold in the future. I can’t count the number of times over the past 26 plus years that I’ve opened that door.” Now opening a new door and crossing the threshold into his presidency, Dr. Seifert’s focus on students’ presences will take a new form as he begins paving new avenues for students’ footsteps to imprint on, both at Siena College and the world.
Cultivating his background early on in business, Dr. Seifert earned a B.A. in Economics from the University at Buffalo, a finance M.B.A., and a specialization in leadership from UAlbany. Following this, Dr. Seifert served as the CFO of the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce for two years, and later moved to the VP of Evergreen Bank and a manager at First American Bank. He began teaching at Siena College in 1996 as a Visiting Professor of Finance and Marketing and Management.
“There’s multiple different elements to my preparation for this position and honestly, at any one point during that journey, if I was to look forward, I probably wouldn’t have seen myself in this position. But looking back, it’s very evident. All of the different pivot points and all the different areas have helped lead me and provided me with the experience necessary to take on this responsibility. I started teaching as an adjunct because I had my Master’s Degree and I absolutely fell in love with teaching. It just rejuvenated me, invigorated me, and incredibly excited me. This opportunity at Siena College, which was a Visiting Professor position in Finance, came up. Somehow my wife supported the decision and I went from the corporate side to the academic side because of my passion for teaching. I quickly learned that if I wanted to do this as a career, that I would need to get my Ph.D. During my first year here, I applied to a couple schools, and was accepted at the University of Albany in their Organizational Studies Ph.D program. So for the next three and a half years, I taught full-time at Siena and was taking classes full-time at the University of Albany, so there wasn’t much free time. Then I was the Dean of the School of Business at Siena College, and then [the opportunity to serve as president] came up. What I think is interesting is that there’s a combination of both practical business acumen, the academic training for leadership, as well as really understanding what being a faculty member means, because I’ve been through all of those different positions. Looking back, I can say I was able to really accumulate quite a bit of information and experiences that have prepared me for this position.”
As Dr. Seifert learned about the opportunity to serve as President, his community-oriented values served him well while he entered his name for consideration. As one would expect, the appointment process was long and multifaceted but was ultimately time well spent getting to know the community on a deeper level: “Towards the end of his second year, president Gibson indicated that he would end his term at the end of the third year. The board was looking at different opportunities such as a national search and internal search, a combined search, and overall a variety of different avenues. For a multitude of very sound reasons, they had indicated that an internal search would probably be best because we are looking at the initiation of a comprehensive campaign; we have a new strategic plan and we’re really looking to continue to move things forward. I was approached, with the opportunity of putting my name forward for consideration. As you might imagine, a lot of thoughts went through my mind and it was not something that I was anticipating. I had an incredibly detailed conversation with my wife and my kids, because my family is my center, that’s what keeps me moving forward. Together we decided that it was something that I should consider, and continue through the process. I was highly committed and dedicated to the process at that point, and I really felt that it was something that I could undertake in order to benefit the larger community. Then I went through the interview process. I first met with the entire Board of Trustees, which was a very interesting process: an hour and 45 minutes with 28 people asking questions. I also met with the faculty, staff, administrators, students, and I met with the friars. Each and every one of those different individuals interviewed me and had the opportunity to discuss my goals for Siena College. There were members on the search committee from all of those different groups. Those groups presented to the Board of Trustees. On December 2nd, the Board of Trustees voted to appoint me as the 13th President of Siena College.”
A driving force that animates Dr. Seifert’s approach to his new presidency, and one that has surely come up during these conversations, is his application of servant leadership at Siena College. Pioneered by the writer Robert Greenleaf, the servant leadership approach proposes that leaders are appointed in order to encourage the highest potential of the institution they serve and the people that they lead. Servant leadership emphasizes listening and understanding as hallmarks of the leadership style. The approach is one that President Seifert will use to define his platform. “First, I will tell you that I aspire to be a true servant leader. It is the concept that really defines my leadership style and each and every day I do my best in order to enhance my performance as a servant. I’m not there; I don’t know if I ever will be, but I can do my best to continue to improve and get closer to the ideal. There’s much more responsibility for leadership beyond the organization. You’re responsible for the social and emotional development of all the people that you’re working with. That is really the crux of servant leadership. I’m only successful when the people that I’m working with are successful, so I need to do what I can in order for them to be successful. There is a theory in leadership simply called the Path Goal Theory. You determine the goals for the different individuals that you’re working with and then clear the path in order for them to be able to achieve it. It’s really trying to determine and then meet what individuals’ true needs are and doing what you can in order to have a positive impact on them. Both the organization and the individuals that you’re working with should be better after. You’ve had an opportunity to work with them, and that’s really the goal and what you’re trying to achieve. If the individuals that you work with are successful, hopefully they will work with the individuals that they work with in order for them to be successful.”
In the spring at an event for Delta Sigma Pi, Siena’s resident Business Fraternity, Dr. Seifert spoke with students about the ideals servant leadership promotes within the world of business and beyond. To depict this dynamic in an organization, Dr. Seifert showed a chart of business organizational roles mapped onto a triangle, with the CEO at the top and customers at the bottom. Dr. Seifert then showed the chart upside down; the customers took the highest position on the hierarchy while the CEO served as an anchor of support. “Typically, you see an organizational chart with the leader at the top and the vice presidents, middle managers, managers, and employees, and staff. And I really like to invert the pyramid and indicate that the students are at the top. They’re the most important element, and all of us are here to support them. So in the role that I’ll be assuming, I won’t be at the top of the chart, I’ll be all the way at the bottom. When I strive to be a servant, I take that very seriously.” Shortly before his presentation started, Dr. Seifert asked if he could purchase a snack at the vending machine for any student who wanted one.
One key aspect of servant leadership that will inform Dr. Seifert’s Presidency is recognizing the variety of perspectives that flourish within the Siena community. “I’ve already met with all of the members of the President’s Cabinet, which I was part of for eight years as well. One of the key components of those meetings is that they knew that I was there to support them, and I’m there in order to help them be effective in their jobs and their positions. The other really important part is that I need them to tell me their perspective, especially if it’s inconsistent with mine. Some people are guilty by association; I try to be brilliant by association. I surround myself with really smart people and hope that people will assume I am too, right? I think that it really is important for me to have open and transparent communication with everybody, and that in itself is one of those really important components to being a servant. It’s also important that I work with the individuals in order for them to come together in order to develop the best possible solutions and do so in a collaborative way as compared to individual areas working for their own best interests. We have to work for the best interest of the college, and in particular the students.”
A cornerstone of Siena’s culture can be traced back to the custom explained to highschoolers from the moment they step on campus for a tour: Siena students are known to open doors for each other. President Seifert believes that students will already find servant leadership to be a natural fit into Siena culture: “I will first tell you the servant leadership model is not that different from the way Siena works now. In fact, it’s one of the areas that drew me to Siena and kept me here; there is a huge overlap between servant leaders and Franciscans on a Venn Diagram. For a long time when I was doing open houses, I would say something along the lines of, ‘We can’t fake it this good.’ There’s really something there from the Franciscan tradition and there is an incredible amount of caring and support and collaboration between the students, faculty, and all of the different community members. So it’s not going to be an incredible difference, but it’s going to be a re-emphasis on that dynamic. Right now we talk about students, faculty, staff, and administrators, and I don’t necessarily like those classifications. I think we’re all Siena community members, and I think when we start to think about the Siena community, we’re looking at how all of those different areas work together. I don’t like segregation, I like the consolidation.”
When serving as a professor at Siena, President Seifert began his mission to consolidate the classroom into a community. At the time, he stated: “I love the opportunity to really get to know my students. The small classes make it easy to know their names. However, the culture at Siena is also very conducive to building a collaborative environment. I truly appreciate the opportunity to work with my students throughout the semester.” Now that his first semester serving as President has begun and community members are arriving on campus, Dr. Seifert looks forward to the relationships he will build on a larger scale all while getting to know more names along the way. “I will tell you that I will miss the classroom, but I know that I’ll have the opportunity to engage with students and be a much, much bigger part of this community. I am most looking forward to the opportunity to work with, engage and impact students’ lives.” On the cusp of the fall semester, Dr. Seifert already has planned a way to make strong connections wherever he goes by understanding the experience of a student who studies, works, eats, and even lives at Siena.“I’m going to be living on campus and I am going to as many places as I possibly can in order to make sure that I’m engaging with and providing students with that education for a lifetime.”
This education for a lifetime would not be complete without traditions that combine Siena culture with the ability to celebrate everything that sets the college apart. When asked about his own favorite, President Seifert has one from different perspectives of the Siena community: “Can I only say one? From the faculty perspective, it’s the Friar’s Christmas party. In general, my favorite time on campus is when the community has an opportunity to get together. So, at the beginning of every semester and at commencement, because that’s when all of the students come across the stage in recognition of all of their accomplishments.”
In the future of his Presidency, President Seifert will center his vision around forming new traditions at a recognizable wellspring of faith on campus, the Bells of Remembrance in the Grotto. The Bells of Remembrance, originally from the Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Providence, serve to memorialize Fr. Mychal Judge, O.F.M., and Br. F. Edward Coughlin. At the same time in the Grotto, regardless of the weather or season, candles lit for community members by community members illuminate the area. Much like the threshold of Siena Hall, this place is also an indentation left on the campus; at its core, this one is a tribute to the lengths Siena community members will go to look after each other. President Seifert knows that although students will graduate from Siena, the core values learned from their years here will only be bolstered by time as they step out into the world: “What we’re looking at doing now with the Bells of Remembrance [in the Grotto] is having the students walk through the bells when they come on campus during orientation and then walk out when they graduate, because they’re never really leaving. You can depart from the Siena campus, but Siena really never leaves you. I think that that is a really symbolic way to demonstrate that idea.”
As President Seifert explains this from his office, it is not difficult to imagine that soon in the threshold of the Bells of Remembrance, there will be an indentation.
A special thank you to President Seifert for his time in this interview. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.