2026 Business Leaders of the Year: Jeff Frederick

Jeff Frederick, president of Drury University, has a simplified leadership philosophy.

It starts with being a good listener and is rooted in a belief that every member of the campus deserves to be heard.

“Listening confers respect and provides the information necessary to critically evaluate any situation,” he says.

“Those that are rash with proposing immediate solutions are prone to ineffective decision making because they fail to grasp the entirety of a situation.”

Other principles include staying positive, solving problems with practical solutions and being honest – calling it the starting point of any meaningful relationship.

“Being truthful also involves being able to deliver bad news. Honesty creates pathways to current and future partnerships and solutions,” he says. “We practice open-book management as a pillar of an approach grounded in telling the truth, thanking people for their work and acknowledging our shortcomings.”

Frederick just started his third year in the role and reflected on a period of enrollment growth, record-setting fundraising and “our best financial year in a decade.”

Drury has developed new programs including a Master of Health Administration – in conjunction with several healthcare partners – along with a Bachelor of Nonprofit Leadership and a Master in Athletic and Sports Administration.

The university is still growing a relatively new program awarding Bachelor of Science degrees in both mechanical and electrical engineering.

“To live out our mission of personalized education and see so many signs of individual and collective success from our students is the most gratifying achievement any organization can have,” Frederick says. “We are achieving our mission.”

He says the private university has worked hard to get “back at the community table and deeply embedded into the Springfield and Ozarks conversation.” This happens in different ways, he says, from top leaders being highly visible to creating ways for students to give back to the community through the annual Service Plunge and projects.

Frederick says Drury invites the community to campus for music, theater, athletics, and cultural events plus lectures.

“The community comes to our campus for free tax returns; architectural reviews; small, medium, and large scale business conversations; to our Panther Clinic; to find solutions from our faculty and staff subject matter experts; and sometimes just to pop in for a bagel and a cup of coffee,” he says.

“When each student is treated as a name and never a number, a mutually beneficial teaching-and-learning relationship is built, creating an experience that equips them for their first job after graduation, but also for adapting to the constantly changing world they will navigate for decades to come,” he says.

“That is how Drury is excellent and differentiated in our work.”