Jim Craig has been called the backbone of a team that accomplished one of the most extraordinary and memorable sports victories of all time. He went on to play professionally and transitioned to tremendous and ongoing success in the business world. Jim is in demand from coast to coast and internationally as a motivational speaker, spokesperson, marketing and sales strategist, and master storyteller. He is president of a Massachusetts-based promotions and marketing firm. Over the past 25 years, Jim has inspired, instructed, and provided strategic and winning direction for employees and associates from more than 300 organizations, including Allianz, Bayer Corporation, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Coca-Cola, Dunkin’ Donuts, GE, Gore Medical, John Hancock, Merrill Lynch, Next Financial, Pepsi, Time Inc., Walt Disney, and other worldwide recognizable brands. An All-American goalie at Boston University and standout for the 1978 NCAA championship squad, Jim was selected as the starting goaltender for the US 1980 Olympic hockey team. Indispensable to Team USA’s epic upset of the Soviet Union. In the game against the Soviets, the Americans were outshot 42-16, but Jim made 39 saves, and his teammates scored four times. Two days later, against Finland, Jim was again superb, and the US won Olympic gold. How incredible was the victory over the Soviets? Consider that as the 20th century came to a close, most major media sports polls selected the Lake Placid win, as the Number One sports episode of the previous 100 years. “It may just be the single most indelible moment in all of US sports history,” said Sports Illustrated. Following the Olympics, Craig played in the NHL where he started for the Atlanta Flames, Boston Bruins, and Minnesota North Stars. While in net for the North Stars, Jim sustained an injury that ended his professional hockey career. Jim is enshrined in the Boston University Athletic Hall of Fame, International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame, US Hockey Hall of Fame, and the US Olympic Hall of Fame. When Jim retired from pro hockey, he pursued a marketing and sales career with the same passion, focus, work ethic, and dedication that he put forth on the ice. He signed on as marketing and sales consultant for Valassis Inserts. While with Valassis Inserts (later Valassis Communications), Jim took an operating unit that had $300,000 in annual sales and built it to a unit that did $50 million. Jim left Valassis and became the top salesman of Hat Trick Group, a company that creates and produces promotions, incentive marketing, and custom premium programs and products. Under his stewardship and guidance, HTG developed new products and services and increased annual dollar sales by 80% and its number of clients by 30%. In 2007, Jim directed his competitive zeal and devotion to innovation and teamwork to the launch and operation of his company. Still in its infancy, the firm has as growing roster of highly satisfied clients all receiving premium value and competitive advantage. Titles Team Building Creating and Building Great Groups Identifying the Right People for the Right Position Innovation and Strategic Change Making a Difference Build Your Legacy Peak Performance Rebounding from Setback and Defeat Recruiting: What It Takes to Be a Gold Medal Winner Kids and Teenagers: Healthy Living, Making the Right Choices, and Pursuing Your Dreams Topics Balance, Business, Change, Future, Fitness, Goal-setting, Leadership, Motivation, Performance, Success, Team Building Click topic above to see more speakers on that topic Speaker's Asking Fee Range $15,000 or more Click on fee range to see more speakers. This is the starting keynote fee range - other programs may be higher. State MA Click on state above to see more speakers from that state. Fees The fee range quoted means the speaker's fee starts somewhere within that range. Note that speaker's fees are subject to change and some speakers may have special fee quotes.

TESTIMONIALS: "I had extremely high expectations for Jim’s presentation. I have hired and witnessed hundreds of keynote addresses in my career. Jim was by far the best. He took the time to profile our organization and understand our future vision. His delivery was flawless and there was not one individual out of the 200 attendees that did not leave with multiple compliments and a renewed sense of pride in themselves and others. " - Sr. Vice President, National Sales, Multi-Financial Securities Corporation “I’ve been a financial advisor for over 30 years and I have never been more inspired by the speech that Jim Craig gave to our group. Jim provided me with the energy and vision to understand that my job is to grow and protect people’s legacies.” - Financial Advisor, Janus “If you are looking for a bolt of lightning to energize and focus your sales teams, hire Jim Craig. Jim spent half a day with the Bausch & Lomb Vision Care sales force at the launch meeting for our new contact lens PureVision 2 HD. His General Session talk was riveting but more importantly his background in business as well as in hockey enabled him to combine sports and work analogies seamlessly. The effect is that every member of the Team from Sales Rep to Vice President got the messages of owning your job, building a taste for winning, and the value of personally committing to a team objective. Jim then spent time with the regional sales leadership signing autographs and memorabilia while giving them some powerful tips on coaching and getting the best out their organizations. With every group and discussion his authentic excitement was evident and he created not one, but dozens of individual experiences that our sales folks will never forget . The feedback we have gotten in the two weeks since the meeting has been tremendous and the launch is off to one of our fastest starts ever. Jim’s high energy dead on message clearly helped.” - President , Bausch & Lomb Vision Care N. America "Jim delivered an inspirational message to our team with clarity, enthusiasm and personality that resonated with every attendee in our audience. He was able to take our themes of teamwork, change and execution and composed a clear, succinct message that resonated with our colleagues across the franchise. He infused energy and a belief that 'we can' instead of 'we can't' in the face of adversity." - Director of Sales & Strategy, Commercial Enterprise Banking "Just want to thank you for speaking at our National Sales Meeting . Your enthusiasm and powerful message served as a great close to our meeting. I also wanted to thank you for taking the time to schedule the “pre speech” conference call with me. Your interest in my teams philosophy and how your presentation could be customized to fit my objectives was very helpful. The positive feedback from my team made it clear that you did your homework, understood our organization, and crafted a meaningful message tailored to our audience of sales people. From the very beginning of your presentation you had an impact. The intro gave most goose bumps. Your strong message about shaking off the “entitled” nature some senior salespeople sometimes feel was on point. Finally, your willingness to spend extra time meeting and greeting our people made the whole experience memorable and worthwhile for all. Thanks to you we ended our National Meeting with a feeling that “together we will all go far”. - Business Development Group, Wells Fargo Advisors