News and Updates
Donor Profile: Jim Ksansnak '58
More than a half a century ago, the advice of an 8th grade nun and a $250 partial scholarship brought Jim Ksansnak ’58 to St. Joseph’s Prep. Now he is trying to help others have the same experience that made him a success.
For young Jim Ksansnak, living in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia, The Prep was not a blip on the radar. Before moving to Mayfair, he and his family had been in Olney, just down the street from La Salle College High School. He had been hoping to attend La Salle but the caring nun (“who gave me a religious medal and said go take the test at The Prep”) and the financial help changed directions for him and helped shape his life.
“If I hadn’t gone to The Prep I don’t know what my career and life would have been like,” says Ksansnak, who is semi-retired now. “It made all the difference and that difference was reinforced when I attended Saint Joseph’s College. The Prep’s mission of creating whole persons with the broadest possible perspectives was the key factor. I also learned from faculty and fellow students how to think logically, think through issues and make decisions.”
Making decisions came in handy throughout Ksansnak’s career. After graduating from Saint Joseph’s College in 1962, Ksansnak joined Arthur Andersen & Co.’s Philadelphia office as an accountant, becoming a Partner in 1971 and then Office Managing Partner in 1979.
“It was quite a time, a lot of growth and a lot of fun,” says Ksansnak. “When I started, there were 60 people in the office and when I left there were 600 people working there.”
In 1986, Ksansnak changed his professional course when he left Arthur Andersen and joined ARA (now ARAMARK) in Philadelphia, where he served as Executive Vice President/Chief Financial Officer and then Vice Chairman.
Although the change was “a bit frightening,” Ksansnak says “it was time for me, at 46, to do something different. I thought the opportunity at ARAMARK was unique with a management team led by Joe Neubauer that was pretty exciting.”
“I absolutely loved my time at ARAMARK,” he continues. “This was one of the classic situations where a company owned by its employees performed exceptionally well.”
Although he retired from full-time work at ARAMARK in 2000, he still serves on its Board of Directors. Also, in 2003, he joined Prep parent and former board member Charles Pizzi at Tastykake, becoming Chairman of Tasty’s Board. The company has been transformed during that time and Ksansnak gives full credit to Pizzi and the management team.
“Charlie and the team have done an exceptional job of turning the company around and building a business that will ensure its future growth,” he says.
In addition to other Board memberships, Ksansnak also is a Board member at Thomas Jefferson University, showing his willingness to serve others. That is a trait he claims to have learned from the Jesuits. “Part of what I call a ‘St. Joe’s education’ is to learn how to give back to the community,” he says. In addition to Jefferson, over the years Ksansnak has also chaired a number of other not-for-profit boards, including the Philadelphia YMCA and the Planning Forum, a national organization designed to help business executives deal with budgeting, planning and strategic thinking.
“Sometimes I think you learn even more from serving a not-for-profit organization,” he says. “You are dealing with people who are also volunteers with different perspectives. You learn how to be more respectful of their views and you listen a lot more carefully to what they have to say.”
Now that he is semi-retired, Ksansnak and his wife Suzanne split their time between Jupiter, Florida., and Longport, New Jersey. While reading, golf and volunteer activities take up some of their free time, the most important time is time spent with family--- children (Keith, Janet and Linda) and four grandchildren (Brad, Lee, Luci and Tara). Suzanne and Jim also enjoy international travel and are traveling to Russia and to the Mediterranean during 2007.
Jim and Suzanne Ksansnak have given a sizable gift to the Campaign for The Prep – Our Legacy, Our Future. For Ksansnak, it is simply a chance to help the school that has given him so much.
“The Prep has made such a difference in my life that I want to help other students and hope they will eventually feel the same way,” he says. “The need for The Prep to do what it is doing makes sense to us and we wanted to help.”
In honor of Jim and Suzanne, The Prep will dedicate one of the link corridors between buildings as the “K Street Corridor,” a fitting tribute for a man whose love of the school dates back half a century. It is that love that will help the school move forward to a new future.
