Kraig Kessel, AIA, NCARB, Co-Founder, Kraido

Kraig is a licensed architect who has spent the majority of his 36-year career specializing in the development of branded environments and international signage programs for numerous industries, including convenience stores, quick service restaurants, financial services, specialty retail and petroleum. In conjunction with Dave Oldman, Kraig co-founded his own company in 2010, called Kraido, which creates branded environments and develops customer experiences that are strategic, innovative, and practical. He is the strategic and creative lead on all branded environments components for Wells Fargo as well as Chevron Retail, and Chevron Lubricants (Chevron xpress lube, Havonine xpress lube, Caltex autoPro, and Chevron Delo), which are international quick lube workshop design programs. Other key clients of Kraig and his firm Kraido include Alon Brands, Delek (DK brand), Global Partners (Alltown Market Brand), HELE (petroleum retailer in Hawaii), Most Mobility Station (a new service station brand experience in South Korea as part of the SK Networks group), Jiffy Lube, and SleepFit Mattress stores.

Kraig began his career at Bass/Yager & Associates in Los Angeles where he was instrumental in the design of a new ground-up and retrofit program for Sohio Oil Company, which was subsequently acquired by BP. Kraig was then the Managing Director of the Retail Branding Group at Addison from 1995 to 2004, where he was responsible for the overall strategic and creative direction on projects for Domino’s Pizza, AAA, Wells Fargo, White Hen Pantry, Clark Oil, Ipiranga (Brazil), and Chevron.

Kraig holds a Master of Architecture Degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, where he was also the recipient of the Alpha Rho Chi medal. He has studied at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, is certified by NCARB, is a member of the AIA, and is a licensed architect in the states of Florida and Missouri. Kraig is also an Editorial Advisory Board Member for VMSD magazine, a frequent speaker at the International Retail Design Conference, and a past juror for the SPARK Design Awards.