Craig Radford

Craig Radford has been shaping the advancement of communication for the Deaf community throughout his 20+ year career. Initially spending over 12 years from the very onset of Video Relay Services, he then became a two-time entrepreneur expanding employment opportunities for his local community. Successfully selling each company, he transitioned over to the first truly equitable approach for customer support to deaf customers 4 years ago with Connect Direct.

As a speaker, author of two books, Olympic coach, chairman, presenter and executive, he has impacted hearing and deaf communities alike in furthering accessibility, effective communication, and the creation of jobs specifically targeted for qualified deaf candidates.

Craig received his bachelor’s degree in English and Business Information Systems from Utah State University, then studied in the MBA marketing program at the University of Phoenix. He is a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC) from the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP).

He was Chairman of the Board of Directors for Utah Deaf Education and Literacy, Inc.

He was on the coaching staff for the USA Deaf Olympic Basketball team, where USA had gold and silver medal wins in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Recently, Radford launched Connect Direct, and has worked with large organizations with like-minded accessibility goals such as the American Red Cross, Comcast and Google, to provide direct services in sign language for equitable communication access and creating employment opportunities within the deaf community.

As a deaf professional in a hearing world, Radford has dedicated himself to closing the gap that exists between language and cultural barriers.

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