October 18, 2001

Contact: Rueben D. Perez, KU leadership programs, (785) 864-4861.

Einstein Bagels creator returns to alma mater to give first leadership lecture

LAWRENCE -- A former University of Kansas student body president whose business career includes creating the Einstein Bros. Bagels franchise will give the first Nichols League Leadership Lecture at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 22, in Alderson Auditorium of the Kansas Union.

Kyle Craig, who started his own leadership consulting business after creating the bagel franchise, was KU's student body president from 1967 to 1968. Craig came to KU from Joplin, Mo.

Craig will kick off a new lecture series named for the late Raymond F. Nichols, a former KU chancellor and student leader.

After earning a journalism degree in 1969, Craig began an advertising career that took him to corporate offices of fast-food chains. While at Burger King, he created an advertising campaign that focused on the competition's smaller food servings with a young customer asking, "Do I look 20 percent smaller to you?" At Kentucky Fried Chicken, his suggestion to take the "fried" out of the title led the franchise to change its name to KFC in 1991. In 1992, he moved to Boston Market, then known as Boston Chicken, and while there created a new chain -- Einstein Bros. Bagels

In 1996, Craig opened his own consulting firm, conducting leadership seminars for middle and senior management in Denver. He teaches a leadership course at the University of Denver and has been a guest lecturer at KU's William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Established in 2000 through KU's Division of Student Affairs, the Raymond F. Nichols League of Former Students is composed of former student leaders at KU. The Nichols League helps the Division of Student Affairs expand the leadership development programs by providing private support for such programs as the Nichols League Leadership Lectures.

The Nichols League Leadership Lectures bring back former students and campus leaders who have distinguished themselves in a leadership capacity in the public or private sector and provide an opportunity for current students to learn from the experiences of these alumni.

Nichols came to KU in the 1920s as a freshman from Larned. As a student, he was president of the Men's Student Council, the equivalent of today's student body president. After receiving bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from KU, he served as right-hand man to six chancellors before his own appointment in 1972. He retired the following year. Nichols died in October 1999.