Craig Owen White

Craig Owen White is a senior partner in Hahn Loeser’s business transactions group and serves as the firm’s National Chair of Strategic Relations and Community Outreach. Based in the firm’s Cleveland office, Craig guides clients and companies of all sizes through mergers, acquisitions, divestures, strategic alliances, financing, enterprise governance and licensing issues throughout the United States and abroad, with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. He has particular experience in serving as outside general counsel to enterprises and as board secretary of the board of directors/managers of privately traded enterprises.

Craig’s experience in enterprise governance includes serving as an independent director on the board of directors of Great Lakes Cheese Co., Inc., one the largest privately owned food processing companies in the United States, chairman of the board of trustees of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy (WRLC), one of the largest land conservancies in the Midwest United States and as vice-chairman of the International Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP), a non-profit providing pro bono services in conjunction with many of the United States’ largest law firms in support of the rule of law throughout the Global South. Craig also served as the Partner in Charge of Hahn Loeser’s Cleveland office from 2019-2025.

Craig’s practice experience includes having served as acting general counsel of Bridgestone Corporation during its acquisition of Firestone and serving as United States counsel for Head Sport GmbH. Throughout his career, Craig has held design and implement asset and stock purchases and sales, trademark licensing, joint ventures, strategic alliances and mergers, consolidations, recapitalizations, workouts, shareholders’ agreements and executive employment and non-competition agreements.

Craig’s public service has included counseling government and quasi-government entities in sophisticated transactions with the private sector. Craig’s service has also included counseling the United States and foreign governments on matters that impact international trade. President Barrack Obama appointed Craig to serve on the Trade Advisory Committee on Africa (TACA), a Congressionally mandated committee created to advise the United States Trade Representative on United States trade policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Craig served on the TACA for eight years, the last two as its chair.

Craig has been an active contributor to the jurisprudence impacting governance of privately-owned and nonprofit enterprises. While a member of the prestigious Committee on Corporate Laws of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association, Craig was a contributing author to Managing Closely Held Corporations: A Legal Guidebook. His comment entitled Corporate Goverance: Directors vs. Shareholders was published in the Case Western Reserve Law Review 2005) followed by his presentation of this conclusions at the George W. Leet Business Law Symposium. Craig was also a facilitator at the Answering the Top 10 Questions Facing Family Business Boards, forum sponsored by the National Association of Corporate Directors.

Craig frequently lectures and writes on enterprise governance and business transactions throughout the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular emphasis upon Zimbabwe, Zambia, South African and Ghana. Over 1,000 lawyers in SSA have attended Craig’s lectures and training sessions.