Off the Cuff With Build-a-Bear's Chief Information Bear

Dave Finnegan

TITLE: Chief Information Bear

COMPANY: Build-a-Bear Workshop Inc., St. Louis

ANNUAL REVENUE: $437 million

INDUSTRY SECTOR: Retail and entertainment

CORPORATE LADDER: Hired as director of IT in 1999; named CIO in 2007

FIRST JOB: A dishwasher at Mexican restaurant called Don Diego's in Utah. The pay wasn't great, but you could eat as much as you wanted.

BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: A saying from my Scottish grandfather, "No airs or graces." I don't treat my CEO any different than a person here in our call center.

BEST CIO DECISION: Setting up a steering committee and meetings with our executive leaders. We meet quarterly with the executive team and monthly with our president, CFO and CEO.

BEST TECHNOLOGY DECISION: Interactive technology at our store kiosks. We built the application in-house and just moved it over to a platform from Nanonation.

FAVORITE PASTIME: Fly-fishing or golf. Utah's got some great fly-fishing.

GOLF HANDICAP: Probably between a 10 and a 12. In a Scottish family, if you don't play golf, you're drummed out.

TECHNOLOGY YOU COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT: BlackBerry

TECHNOLOGY YOU WISH YOU COULD LIVE WITHOUT: My BlackBerry -- everybody's blessing and curse.

FAVORITE STUFFED BUILD-A-BEAR: The Curly Bear

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