Learn more about our speaker, Craig Kausen, for this month’s Come As You Are in Five Years, goal setting workshop!

Growing up in Newport Beach in the 1960s and ‘70s, Craig Kausen could be said to have had the most typical of south-ern California childhoods; lots of outdoor activities, swim-ming, body-surfing, horse-back riding. On the other hand, his formative years were unusual in many other ways; the grandson of Academy Award-winning animation director and creator, Chuck Jones, Kausen was the middle child of Jones’ only child, Linda, who (with her father) is credited with launching the animation art industry in the late 1970s. Kausen’s childhood is liberally sprinkled with love, creativ-ity and unique child-rearing philosophies. All of which has had a profound effect on his entrepreneurial spirit.

A graduate of UCLA with a degree in computer engineering, Kausen later attended (by invita-tion only) UCLA’s Anderson School of Business’ Strategic Leadership Institute in 2002. After graduation in 1985, Kausen began working for Hughes Aircraft developing embedded multi-processor computer systems for Navy display systems. For over a decade, Kausen also taught computer engineering at the college level.
In early 1991, he joined his mother (and brother Todd,) at Linda Jones Enterprises, Inc. devel-oping their computer systems and software to address the specific needs of an art publishing company. He streamlined the processes of production, sales and distribution. Shortly after joining LJE, Kausen became the director of LJE’s retail operations. Between 1992 and 1996 he oversaw the development of the Chuck Jones Showroom into a three-location art gallery chain (now the Chuck Jones Galleries in Tustin and San Diego, California and Santa Fe, New Mexico.)

Kausen’s creative foresight, engineering experience, entrepreneurial and competitive spirit have significantly impacted the success of not only the Chuck Jones Galleries, but also with the retirement of Linda Jones in 2002 and his assuming the mantle of President and recently that of CEO of LJE, the wholesale and marketing arms of the corporation. His visionary outlook and his earnest humility have made him one of the art industry’s leading business talents.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the non-profit Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, Kausen also maintains an active schedule of public and private appearances overseeing and develop-ing the programs and outreach of CJCC throughout Orange County and across the country. Chuck Jones Center for Creativity was founded in 1999 by Chuck Jones to promote creativity, especially in children, but open to people of all ages, utilizing the films, writings and art of the legendary artist, Chuck Jones.

Kausen, the father of four, lives in Orange County with his wife Kimberley, and Chief their dog (who runs the house.) He occasionally can be found on a surfboard off the southern California coast in the early morning hours.

Contact: Web: http://www.craigkausen.com/