Craig Hall Underwood
B.A., West Virginia University, 1980M.A., University of Oxford, 1982
M.B.A., University of Chicago, 1984
WVU’s 19th Rhodes Scholar, Craig Underwood graduated from WVU with a B.A. in political science and went on to study politics, economics, and philosophy at Oxford.
Today, Underwood advises and supports loyalty, social, and political entrepreneurs. All of his work is centered on developing strategies for enterprises to increase customer and employee loyalty through understanding, engaging and thriving in the new world of social computing and commerce. He is one of the world?s experts on coalition loyalty programs and has deep expertise in nonprofit growth strategies and board development and mission support. Clients include the Harvard Institute of Politics; SocialSphere Strategies, a new Web 2.0 strategy firm where he is co-founder and partner; Alliance Data Systems; and several sports teams and leagues. He is developing a new fundraising platform for the 2008 presidential contenders.
Underwood was the founder and CEO of The Loyalty Group, the Canadian company that created and runs the AIR MILES Reward Program—one of the most successful coalition loyalty programs in the world. Started by Underwood and two colleagues in a Toronto hotel room in 1991, Loyalty now employs over 1500 people; over 70% of Canadian households are active members of the program. While at Loyalty, Underwood developed over 20 innovative coalition database marketing programs for sponsoring companies, including Safeway, American Express, and Bank of Montreal and launched airmiles.com, the first loyalty program on the Internet.
He also has years of experience in management and strategy consulting across a number of industries having served as a partner at both Bain & Company and Bain?s nonprofit affiliate The Bridgespan Group. He was a founding board member and served as interim CEO of Sports Loyalty Systems and a co-founder of Year Up, the innovative work force development program. He has served on over 10 public, private, and nonprofit boards.