 | Maxine Clark
Founder and Chief Executive Bear
Maxine Clark, 63, has been our Chief Executive Bear since she founded the Company in 1997. She was our President from our inception in 1997 to April 2004, and served as Chairman of our Board of Directors from our conversion to a corporation in April 2000 until November 2011. She was initially elected to our Board of Directors pursuant to the terms of a stockholders’ agreement which terminated upon the closing of the Company’s initial public offering in 2004. Ms. Clark was re-elected at our 2005, 2008, and 2011 annual meetings of stockholders. Prior to founding Build-A-Bear Workshop, Ms. Clark was the President of Payless ShoeSource, Inc. (“Payless”) from 1992 until 1996. Before joining Payless, Ms. Clark spent over 19 years in various divisions of The May Department Stores Company in areas including merchandise development, merchandise planning, merchandise research, marketing and product development. Ms. Clark serves on the Board of Directors of Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, the Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College, the St. Louis Regional Educational and Public Television Commission (KETC/Channel 9 Public Television), and is Chair of KIPP St. Louis Public Charter School. Ms. Clark is Past Chair of Teach for America-St. Louis and a member of its national Board and a past member of the Board of Trustees of Washington University in St. Louis. She is a past trustee of the International Council of Shopping Centers and is a member of its Nominating Committee. She is also a member of the Committee of 200, an organization for women entrepreneurs around the world. Ms. Clark has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from
Saint Louis University.
Ms. Clark has extensive leadership and executive experience in the retail industry, which includes founding and leading Build-A-Bear Workshop. She has nearly 40 years experience in the areas of marketing, merchandising, store operations, digital technology, entertainment, strategic planning, and real estate. With this experience, along with her prior service on the Board of Directors of another publicly traded retail company, The JCPenney Company, she brings to the Build-A-Bear Workshop Board of Directors highly relevant and valuable insights and perspectives on all aspects of the Company’s retail and entertainment business. |
