Ali Houshmand was born into poverty in Iran. He eventually left to pursue an education – first in the U.K., then here in the United States. He started working in the private sector, then built a successful academic career, landing in Glassboro, N.J., at Rowan University.

After serving in a series of senior administrative roles, he became the school’s seventh president in 2012, and embarked on a mission to transform the South Jersey institution. Houshmand recently spoke with NJBIZ about his work at Rowan, how far the university has come and where the school – and American higher education in general – needs to go next. And, of course, his hot sauce.

He makes it clear that his background informs his work.

“I believe that the reason that I’ve been successful is because I’ve been made so humble,” he said. “I’ve seen so much difficulty that I appreciate that, and I don’t want to see any other person to go through what I have. When I see a person in here who comes from a from a depressed area having a difficult time, the first instinct is, how do I help that person? How do I leave that person because I have seen the power of it on me. As a result of me many of my family members have been upgraded, and there are so many other friends and colleagues that I have promoted, so many graduate students who are very successful citizens of this country. That is a fantastic feeling.”

What follows is an abridged version of that discussion. The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity. A video of the full interview is available at njbiz.com/njbizconversations.

NJBIZ: When you took the job, what did you see as the biggest challenges or your most important priorities? What was the school like then? And where did you think you needed to get to?

Ali Houshmand: The school was a very sleepy kind of school that everybody was comfortable with and it was a good school for kids to come and get an education or graduate education.

And what I really recognized as the biggest challenge at that time was if I wanted to implement change, and I had a lot of ideas and ambitions, but from previous experience I knew that I needed to change the culture of the institution so that they will embrace change. So I worked on that one for two years, and the way that I worked it was really trying to be as transparent, as honest, as open as possible with everybody.

Whatever information they wanted, I gave them. Whatever conversation, they wanted I would have with them. By them I mean faculty staff, unions, everybody. And I knew that we had to become a community if you want to progress. If we are kind of infighting with each other, arguing constantly with each other, we are going to spend most of our energy just banging our head against one another.

So, I recognized that really was critical, and I worked very, very diligently on it. I’ll give you one example.

The Senate of the University had serious problem with the budget debate. The budget was formulated under the previous president, and every year when the budget time came, they would write emails questioning details of the budget.

When I became the president, the first thing that I did, I went to the chief financial officer and asked him to print for me three years [of] detailed budget expenditures, and I said, color code them and copy them multiple times. And took them all to a meeting with the Senate leaders, and I gave each of them the copies, and I said, ‘Here is what we had done under the previous president over the past three years. I need for you to now formulate a budget for me for this year. Here is our income, here are the expenses projected. And if your budget formulation is better than mine, I will adopt it. And that was well received.

From then on. We have never, ever had any complaint from the Senate regarding the budget. In fact, in every meeting of the Budget Committee, the Senate representative is there. They get the exact same documents as we do. They get the same resolutions as we do. And I think the key again is that how do you make sure that you become we?

Because if I think of myself as more important than the university, I try to constantly promote myself. People very quickly, people are going to figure me out. And they’re not going to agree with all the things that I propose, because they think ‘what is he up to, what is your motive’ unless you are absolutely transparent and open and trusting.

And you see, because whether somebody is in a union or not, whether they are faculty, they are staff or a janitor or a professor – everybody wants to have a dignified place to work. … And that’s really what we have created. The greatest strength of Rowan is exactly that – the ability to embrace change – intelligent change, intelligent risk-taking. Because when we are relying on the state taxpayers or the students’ tuition and fees to manage the state universities is suicidal. We need to find ways to run our university like a business. Apply business principles in everything that we do, every dollar counts and matters. … And in the areas that we are not good, let others do it and do it better and more efficiently. And that’s what we do.

We have in 10 years done $1.5 billion worth of building in the Glassboro area, almost all of it was somebody else’s money. But it creates thousands of jobs. And those people who invested – they profited from it. And I’m delighted that they did. In the meantime, we did use our portfolio in the areas where we are not good and concentrate in the areas that we are very good – creating knowledge and imparting knowledge to others. That to me is the key to our success.

Q: That sounds good, but I imagine there must have been some resistance, some controversy about that. Because the answer to that is, well, yes, the university, though, isn’t a business. Its primary function is not to produce profits for shareholders. Its primary purpose is to educate students, educate the next generation of leaders for the state for the country. Was there that kind of resistance? And if so, how did you overcome it?

A: I don’t know of a single faculty member who is going to teach for nothing. And I don’t know any student who will come in here and get an education for nothing. Their parents signed big checks. Transactions are happening. That’s number one.

What I did to deal with the Senate was, I said, our key purpose in this place is to create knowledge and to impart knowledge. Therefore, when it comes to the academic aspect of the university , it is sacred, that’s our key mission. I’ll never cut it. I would never impose any changes on them that undermine the real mission. That’s number one.

Number 2, the other source of revenue is that if I’m short of money, I can always increase the tuition and fees more than rate of inflation. And we use this business principle in running every other aspect of the university.

So we have housing. We have food services, we have fleet management, we are landscaping, we have utilities. We have buildings that we build. HVAC. You name it. Fully 50% of the budget is for non-academic purposes. And if I could concentrate on those and run them as business, and they are businesses, and then move that profit, or that revenue that I generate back to the faculty, the faculty would be happy. They concentrate on their core mission, and I have not wasted the money and resources of the university in the areas that are not part of our core mission.

So, faculty understood that and embrace that because I do not impose that on our academics. The reason we exist is academic. Therefore, I would not undermine that one. The rest of the university is business.

Q: You’ve alluded to the economic impact that the school has on the region, and colleges and universities can have a tremendous impact on the economy. … How do you view the school’s role as an economic actor in South Jersey. How big should it be? And where do you see the school fitting into the economic firmament of the region?

A: We have four pillars. We try to constantly focus on promoting these four pillars – access, affordability, quality of education and acting as an economic engine. And we pay attention to every one of them. I’ve been tremendously successful. As I said, our operating budget has risen roughly from $200 million to about $650 million, I believe, in 10 years, or maybe less. Rowan should be a $2 billion dollar operating budget with at least 12,000 employees. … And as the result of the multiplying effect of that – hairdressers, restaurants, all of that, you’re talking about many, many, many thousands more. And that could completely change the shape of southern New Jersey. Because if you – and I don’t know how familiar you are, but if you come to places like Salem and Cumberland and Cape May, these are depressed counties and we do not want them to become a burden to our state. These are great people, wonderful, hard, working, decent people. And we need to do everything we can to keep the young people here – to create jobs, to bring industries, so that together we can lead this thing.

And I really believe that is a major role of Rowan University and our partnership with Cooper as well as with Virtua, is going to be critical in enhancing the economy of southern New Jersey. Because between us, we are employing more than 30,000 people right now. So, you embrace the role as an economic driver? Absolutely. Remember, taxpayers are paying for us. It’s their right to get maximum benefit from us.

Q: Before I let you go I did want to ask you again about the hot sauce. I guess you’re still making it, and you’re still using it to fund scholarships. Is that the way it works?

A: Yes, yes, I actually do two things. One is we have a big farm. We grow a lot of vegetables and food – by vegetables I mean tomatoes, eggplant, cucumber, zucchini, squash. And watermelon, cantaloupe. Thousands of pounds.

I’ve got the students that I’ve hired and I fundraise and I and I grow these things to the tune of 20 or 30,000 pounds, and we box these things, and we give them to people in the community. Boys and Girls Club, the church in the area. We also have a food pantry. Everybody gets this with for free throughout the summer.

At the same time, next to that, we also grow also some peppers, the hottest peppers in the world, to the lightest pepper. And that one is a business that we run in this university by our students — students who are hired. They get paid to do A to Z, and that means from seeds all the way to hot sauce, and they sell it.

And every penny of those proceeds goes directly to the students who are in financial need. … We have helped many, many students. And that’s another thing that I really believe. You may be a college president, but you should behave like an average, ordinary person on the street.  You’re nothing better than them. I don’t see myself as anybody. Big deal. Why can I not go at six o’clock in the morning and do the farming, and then at eight o’clock get to the office? And I do it, and I’m I’m doing it with delight. It’s absolute joy. And helps a lot of people.