The Ken Blanchard Companies® Appoints New Chief Financial Officer

SAN DIEGO - Feb. 21, 2017 - PRLog -- The Ken Blanchard Companies®, a global leader in management training, announced today that R. Craig Spitz has joined the company as Chief Financial Officer, effective February 21, 2017. Craig has extensive financial and operations management experience and brings a wealth of senior finance leadership and experience to Blanchard®.

Craig has worked in a variety of entrepreneurial and established companies, including manufacturing, distribution, and professional services industries. He was most recently the CFO of Stone Brewing, Co., the 10^th largest craft beer brewer in the United States. During his time at Stone, he helped shepherd the growth from $48 million to $217 million and successfully negotiated the financing packages for the growth plans and real estate entities of the company, including the location in Berlin, Germany, which made Stone the first US craft brewer to operate in Europe. Prior to that, he worked at Synteract, an organization serving the biotech industry.

Craig holds a bachelor's degree with high honors in accountancy from the University of Illinois and is a Certified Public Accountant in Illinois and California. He is on the Advisory Board of San Diego Business Executive Council, and is a member of Renaissance Executive Forums (CFO Group) and the San Diego CFO Roundtable. Craig has been recognized by the San Diego Business Journal as CFO of the Year and has received their CFO Exemplary Service Award.

"We are very pleased to welcome Craig to the Blanchard team," said Howard Farfel, President, The Ken Blanchard Companies (http://www.kenblanchard.com/). "He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience and will contribute greatly to the strategic and financial direction of Blanchard."

"I am thrilled to join Blanchard and its incredible mission. As a follower and user of Blanchard leadership models and frameworks throughout my career, I look forward to helping the organization improve leadership practices around the world!" said Craig.

About The Ken Blanchard Companies
The Ken Blanchard Companies is the global leader in management training. For more than 35 years, Blanchard has been creating the best managers in the world, training over 150,000 people each year. From the award-winning First-time Manager program—based on the best-selling business book, The New One Minute Manager®—to Situational Leadership® II, the most widely taught leadership model in the world, Blanchard is the provider of choice of Fortune 500 companies as well as small to medium businesses, governments, and educational and nonprofit organizations.