Senior Director of Benefits, Purdue University
Candace Shaffer’s commitment to improving the well-being of others is at the core of her professional successes, as well as her personal motivation. In 2014, she began her career in benefits at Purdue University. Since 2017, she has led the university’s benefit team and is responsible for the overall strategic and financial approach to Purdue University’s and Purdue University Global’s benefit packages. This includes health & wellness, leaves, retirement, disability, workers compensation and family friendly programs, as well as the systems and customer service processes in place to help employees and their families engage in those programs.
Prior to coming to Purdue University, Candace worked in the early care and education profession with several years focusing on children and families at risk, supporting early childhood programs on quality of care and planning statewide early education conferences for professionals. With her education and previous work experience being child development and family studies, her first introduction to benefits from an employer’s perspective was when she came to work at Purdue in 2014 as the worksite health and childcare specialist. Once she joined the team, she became more involved in benefit and team projects, leading to being given the opportunity to serve as interim associate director, ultimately leading to her current position as senior director of benefits where she leads a team focused on helping the Purdue community thrive.
Candace earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in child development and family studies from Purdue University. Awarded with Employee Benefits News ‘Benefits Leadership in Healthcare’ in 2018, Candace’s focus on overall employee wellness –behavioral, financial, physical, social and work-life – continues to bring new opportunities to the table, not only for the employee population but also the university.