Family & Privately Owned
Business Leadership Awards 

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Craig Kurz
Chief Executive Officer
The HoneyBaked Ham Company of Ohio 

Craig Kurz is a third generation founding family member of The HoneyBaked Ham Company, the nation’s oldest and largest specialty ham retailer. Craig joined the family business full time in 1984 after spending literally his entire life working in every aspect of the business. To this day, he still cherishes the time spent working in the stores interacting with team members and customers.  Each holiday he glazes hams, waits on customers and assist Store Managers in the operations of their facilities. He has not missed working in the stores during holidays since 1974.  

Since he began full time employment in 1984 he established the marketing, sales and service functions for the retail and catalog operations under his control.  His division has grown from 10 stores in 1984 to 34 corporate store, 4 sub-licensed stores and 3 year round kiosks today, while the catalog division has grown 20 times its size. Under his leadership, his division was the first among family operated HoneyBaked divisions to acquire another HBH division and the first to acquire a specialty ham competitor.

As President of the National HBH Board of Directors – the Licensor which oversees over 460 HoneyBaked Ham Company retail stores - Kurz brings strong strategic planning, business building, consumer insight and branding experience to the national system.

In 2003 he was honored as an Entrepreneurial Fellow in the Thomas C. Page Center for Entrepreneurship at Miami University.  In 2003, The HoneyBaked Ham Company was inducted into the Weatherhead School of Business, Family Business Hall of Fame at Case Western Reserve University. He is also a member of The Goering Center for Family & Private Business at The University of Cincinnati.

He holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky, is married to his wife of 28 years with 3 children and resides in Cincinnati, Ohio.