Jim Craig

Olympic Gold Medalist, Goalie, 1980 USA “Miracle on Ice” Hockey Team, Owner, President & CEO of Gold Medal Strategies

Jim Craig

Olympic Gold Medalist, Goalie, 1980 USA “Miracle on Ice” Hockey Team, Owner, President & CEO of Gold Medal Strategies

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Biography

Jim Craig is best known as the backbone of the 1980 Olympic Gold Medal Hockey Team, whose ‘Miracle’ win was voted by Sports Illustrated as the greatest moment in sports history of the 21st century. Craig, who started every game in goal, was a leading figure in the team’s success. One of the enduring images of the 1980 Games was of Craig, wrapped in an American flag, searching the stands for his widowed father in order to share the gold-medal-winning victory.

Before the Olympics, Jim was an All-American goalie at Boston University, leading his team to a NCAA national championship. After the ‘Miracle’ game, Jim went on to play professionally for three NHL teams, where he sustained a career-ending injury while playing for the Minnesota North Stars. He is enshrined in the Boston University Hall of Fame, the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame, the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, and the United States Olympic Hall of Fame and is a co-recipient of both the Lester Patrick award and the Sports Illustrated "Sportsman of the Year" award. He is also a graduate of Boston University and earned his doctorate in humane letters from Mercy College.

Following Jim’s professional hockey career, he transitioned his success into the corporate world as a motivational speaker, powerful salesman and corporate consultant. He has been inducted into the Sales Halls of Fame for two different companies, having increased a sales territory from $300,000 to $50 million in annual sales. Following this role, Jim moved on to become the Vice President of a promotional marketing agency. Under his guidance, the agency increased annual dollar sales by 80 percent and its number of clients by 30 percent in just two short years.

For more than 30 years, Jim has inspired, instructed and provided strategic and winning direction to some of the most prestigious companies across the world, including Kellogg's, Bayer, Deloitte, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Disney, as the successful owner and president of his company, Gold Medal Strategies. Jim has been selected three times as one of the top five speakers on team building in the United States, and has evolved to not only deliver motivational speeches, but host immersive corporate training programs that teach participants how to think differently and believe in their possibilities. Jim is the co-author of the highly acclaimed business book, Gold Medal Strategies: Business Lessons from America's Miracle Team and recently released his newest book and legacy piece, We Win! Lessons on Life, Business & Building Your Own Miracle Team. In addition to his role with Gold Medal Strategies, Jim serves as a board member of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, and he has a passion for leveraging his athletic and business success to help others achieve their full potential and lives in integrity with his mission every day!

Speaker Videos

Gold Medal Strategies

41st Anniversary of “The Miracle on Ice” | The Rich Eisen Show

On Winning

Leadership and Accountability

See Fewer Videos

Speech Topics

Gold Medal Strategies: Business Lessons from America's Miracle Team

We Win! Lessons on Life, Business & Building Your Own Miracle Team

Testimonials

"If you are looking for someone who delivers at the highest level of motivation and professionalism, look no further than Jim Craig. Jim personalized his presentation to our audience while at the same time, touching on the key elements that have impacted his life, as well as the amazing events that have shaped who he is. I have been involved in securing and working with speakers for over 37 years and I can say, hands down, Jim is one of the finest people whom you will ever work with."

- Executive Director, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Lewis Clark Valley

"Working with Jim and his team is an absolute pleasure! We consistently have an amazing experience and Jim always gets outstanding feedback from our clients. We highly recommend him to anyone who is looking for a phenomenal speaker!"

- Ingram Micro

"Our virtual keynote with Jim Craig was a huge success. I was personally very impressed with the Gold Medal Strategies team from the beginning, where they took the time to truly prepare and get to know our organization’s aims and strategic objectives, ensuring Jim’s message would perfectly align. On the day of the event, Jim was very well spoken and natural behind the camera, and I believe his message was empowering for everyone tuned in. Jim did an excellent job at bringing everyone together during a time of great uncertainty. After speaking with passion about motivation and inspiration for about half an hour, Jim then engaged the team in a Q and A session, answering in an open and thoughtful way. I have received nothing but positive feedback and can’t recommend Jim and the Gold Medal Strategies team enough to bring your team together when the world is currently keeping them apart."

- Head of the Equity Division, Mizuho Americas

"Jim’s speech was everything I hoped for and more. It is one thing to impart the right messages, but a true motivator inspires action and that Is what Jim accomplished. Having Jim as the keynote speaker for our team was a great decision with overwhelmingly positive results. I would strongly suggest to any company looking for a motivational speaker to make the same choice."

- Ethics & Compliance Manager, Procter & Gamble

"Jim nailed the virtual presentation and his focus on "training to win" and what it takes to win was extremely motivating. One of my favorite quotes was, "taking the harder right over taking the easier wrong". It is so easy not to have the hard conversations in leadership and to not do the uncomfortable work or fooling yourself into thinking you are taking the harder right. This message hit home with our team and we have discussed it quite a bit. We are a tighter group because of it and I thank Jim for it! He taught us there is a certain grit and grind it out attitude you must have to win! In a challenging environment, like we are experiencing today, this message was perfectly timed. We are on our way now and know what it means to train to win not just to train to compete."

- Senior Director, North America Global Compute & Networking Sales, Intel/DELL EMC

"The leadership from our organization has been working with Jim Craig and Gold Medal Strategies in various ways for many years...Jim and his team are experts at developing materials that are relevant to our leaders. Jim has a natural talent for pulling out greatness! He challenges you to think differently, push harder and develop exceptional work through these calls. Jim will push you and challenge your team. He has helped me grow my leadership exponentially and is an amazing performance coach! I highly recommend Jim & Gold Medal Strategies!"

- Director of Talent Development, Zeigler AutoGroup