First W.Ronald Lane Executive-in-Residence at Grady on March 24th.

Top Bear Visits as First Executive-in-Residence

Grady College alumna Maxine Clark, founder and chief executive bear of Build-A-Bear Workshop, will visit Grady College next Monday as the inaugural W. Ronald Lane Executive-in-Residence in Advertising.

On Monday, Clark will visit ADPR 3110, “Message Strategy,” taught by Jennifer Griffith, at 11:15 a.m. She will then visit ADPR 3100, “Principles of Advertising” at 12:20 p.m. She will also visit ADPR 5470/7740, combined advertising campaigns classes taught by Griffith and Jooyoung Kim, at 2:30 p.m. Later that evening she will speak to the Ad Club at 7 p.m.

The advertising executive-in-residence in advertising program was “created to provide the opportunity for the department the means to invite professionals to spend time with students and faculty,” said Karen King, professor and head of Grady’s Department of Advertising and Public Relations.

The position was named in honor of retired professor of advertising and former interim department head Ron Lane because he was a “long-time faculty member with a commitment to keeping Grady faculty and students connected to the industry with the industry and because of his contributions . “It’s very appropriate that Maxine Clark was named the first executive-in-residence because she was was one of a student of Ron Lane’s students,” King said. “We are thrilled that she is coming to share her expertise with our students.”

Clark (ABJ ’71) has been chief executive bear of Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. since the company’s inception in 1997 and has served as chairman of its board of directors since April 2000. From November 1992 until January 1996, Clark was the president of Payless ShoeSource, Inc. In 2008 Clark was named one of The 25 Most Influential People in Retailing by Chain Store Age; in 2006 she was inducted into the Junior Achievement National Business Hall of Fame and received the 2006 Luminary Award for Entrepreneurial Achievement from the Committee of 200. She was named a Customer-Centered Leader in the 2005 Customer First Awards by Fast Company.

Today there are more than 370 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores worldwide. Build-A-Bear Workshop extended its in-store interactive experience online in 2007 with the launch of its virtual world at http://www.buildabearville.com/