DePauw Stories

Steve Fouty embraces his role at DePauw of  “developing business-ready leaders the world needs.” In fact, he says he loves the job he has been doing for nearly two years.

Though he is originally from Greencastle, Fouty’s route to becoming the James W. Emison director of the McDermond Center for Management and Entrepreneurship was circuitous. And creative. 

It began in Nashville.

As a songwriter, singer and keyboard player, Fouty -- along with his wife, Fayrene -- have produced four albums, two inspirational and two country, with the focus on “positive music.”

They used to be known as Morning Star and Profit, a singing duo who moved to Nashville for two years, and even performed at the iconic Bluebird Cafe.

“Music is my hobby, my passion,” he says. And trying to make it professionally was “a great learning experience,” but not necessarily a living. They decided to return to his finance career in Indiana, where he was a certified public accountant and chief financial officer for technology startups. He was the controller at ExactTarget for more than 11 years, including when the company went public and was sold to Salesforce.

During that time, Fouty worked with many young graduates, many young DePauw graduates, which is what “really formed my passion to work with that age group.

“What I love about my job at DePauw is that I spent 30 years in business and worked with DePauw alums. I saw how well their education served them and how successful they were in their careers and, in a lot of ways, were ahead of their peers. 

“And now I get to meet them four to six years earlier and am able to have a greater impact on what they do in their life afterward. That’s what gets me up every morning.”

Even though Fouty says he knew working at DePauw was going to be a great experience,“it’s been even better. 

“I may be prejudiced, but I think I walked into the best team here.”  

The team members include Jeff Gropp, Joseph Percival "Perk" Allen III university professor of economics and management and director of the Management Fellows Program; Sarah Miller, Management Fellows Program associate director; and Sandy Smith, manager of programming and outreach at the McDermond Center. 

Fouty credits the trio for making his transition from the business world to academia seamless.

“The four of us work well together,” he says. “We have the students at heart. That’s our focus. And, we have a lot of fun, too.”