Craig Wales is a 1986 graduate of Ohio University, with studies in Photography and Communications.
His entire professional career has been in Communications, specifically in the area of video production and interactive media. Mr. Wales retired in 2015 after a 28-year career with a world-class technology company headquartered in central Ohio. His writing skills were honed over that time, mostly through the process of script writing for video production and internal communication projects.

 

Borrowing his dad's Kodak "Brownie" camera, he became interested in photography as a young boy, and being fortunate enough at the age of 15 to spend two months immersed in the landscape and culture of France and Spain, that interest blossomed into a full-blown passion—which continues to this day.

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In recent years, he’s been recognized by Genoa’s Palitifini organization as someone who has a keen passion for culinary authenticity and keeping Genoa’s pesto-making tradition alive. Mr. Wales has participated in the Genoa Pesto World Championships five times and will be competing once again in the spring of 2026.  The pesto championship is a bi-annual event in Genoa that attracts contestants from all over the world. For over 25 years he’s spent a significant amount of time in Genoa and throughout Liguria in an effort to understand the essence of Pesto Genovese and its importance to Genoa’s culinary traditions.
 

Mr. Wales works in a volunteer capacity with the Greater Columbus Sister Cities International group, a non-profit organization in Columbus, Ohio as chair of the organization’s relationship with Genoa, Italy—a relationship that began in 1955 and one of ten that the city maintains. The GCSSI’s mission is to build community relationships around the world through education, economic development and arts & culture.

Originally from Massachusetts, in 1971 his family moved to central Ohio, which has been his home ever since. He lives in the greater Columbus Ohio area with his partner, Virginia, and their dog Scout.