[6] Kauffman attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts and earned a bachelor's degree in African History at Stanford University.

[7] In 1993, Kauffman joined Morgan Stanley where he became vice chairman of the firm’s Institutional Securities Group, which provides institutions with services such as capital raising and financial advisory services including mergers and acquisitions advisory, restructurings, real estate and project finance, and corporate lending.

[16] The proposal received positive feedback from clean energy advocates including the Sierra Club.

[17] In 2014, Kauffman and NYSERDA established NY Green Bank, a state-funded specialized financial entity designed to increase private investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects which have had difficulty accessing financing.

NY Green Bank has the stated goal of facilitating financing of more reliable and efficient energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

[20] The $1 billion program is intended to provides long-term, stable incentive funding over a 10-year period to support photovoltaic (PV) solar projects throughout New York, with the ultimate goal of transitioning New York's solar industry to a sector that can function without subsidy support.

[21] In February 2015, the Cuomo administration announced NY Prize, a $40 million "Community Microgrid" competition for New York.

In 2014, Kauffman was listed as one of Fortune Magazine's World's Top 25 Eco-Innovators[23] alongside notable figures including Elon Musk and Bill McKibben.