Build-A-Bear Founder Maxine Clark to Speak at McKendree University Sept. 25

The event is free and open to the public

by Tina Napper

Lebanon, IL (09/04/2025) — Maxine Clark, founder of the Build-A-Bear Workshop, will be speaking at McKendree University's Hettenhausen Center for the Arts on Thursday, Sept. 25 at 3 p.m. Clark is speaking as part of the university's annual Wayne E. Lanter Lecture Series, which invites influential business leaders and entrepreneurs to share their insights and strategies for success. She will be visiting the university before her talk, holding thoughtful discussions and answering questions from McKendree students on campus.

Admission to the event, titled "Building a Beary Good Future," is free and open to the general public. Doors will open 30 minutes prior to the event.

In 2004, Clark's Build-A-Bear became a public company traded on the NYSE. Today, there are nearly 500 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores worldwide and more than 250 million stuffed animals have been sold worldwide. In 2025, Maxine was inaugurated into the International Toy Hall of Fame and named by Chain Store Age Magazine as one of the 20 Most Influential Pioneers in Retail.

Clark stepped down from her CEB - Chief Executive Bear - position in 2013 to begin her next act: helping unleash the potential of women and minority entrepreneurs and using her entrepreneurial skill to create platforms and places that give access to more St. Louis families. Her latest venture is the Delmar DivINe, the transformation of the historic St. Luke's Hospital in the St. Louis West End into a multi-use real estate development opened in 2021.

Clark is an emeritus member of the Build-A-Bear Workshop Board of Directors and a recent past member of Footlocker, Inc.'s Board of Directors. She is also an emeritus member of the Washington University Board of Trustees and an emeritus member and former chair of Goldfarb School of Nursing. She now serves on the boards of Arch Grants, PBS national, and Nine PBS boards. In 2017, Clark was named to the Missouri Public Affairs Hall of Fame, and in 2015 she was named Woman of the Year by the Greater Missouri Leadership Foundation.

To learn more, please visit the Hett's website or call (618) 537-6863.

McKendree University

Build-A-Bear Founder Maxine Clark to Speak at McKendree University Sept. 25

The event is free and open to the public

McKendree University

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