The Licensing International Hall of Fame is home to esteemed executives who have shaped the global brand licensing business. This year’s inductees will be celebrated at the Hall of Fame Induction & Global Rising Star Awards in New York City on December 2, 2026. Each inductee will be introduced by a colleague and friend, and today we sit down with one of those esteemed executives to learn more about the honorees’ impact on the industry.

How did you first meet or work with Sharon Price John, and how has your relationship evolved over the years?
Sharon and I worked together for the first time at Mattel in the mid-1990s. Sharon joined my Disney brands team, with a focus on our interntational business and relationship with The Walt Disney Company. Later, I was lucky enough to serve for a time on her Build-A-Bear board of directors. We also served together on the board of the Toy Association.

What makes Sharon deserving of induction into the Licensing International Hall of Fame?
Across all of her experiences, Sharon has demonstrated a deep understanding of the importance and impact of licensed characters to building a well-rounded business and helping to strengthen brands. In her role as CEO of Build-A-Bear, Sharon had the opportunity to provide a wonderful consumer platform for nearly every important licensor in our industry. She understood how to leverage the strength of those characters so that it worked appropriately with her brand.

If you had to describe Sharon in three words, what would they be and why?
Intelligence, Determination, and Heart. What makes Sharon so uniquely good at what she does is her ability to leverage all three, every day.

Looking back on Sharon’s career, what do you believe has been her greatest contribution to the licensing industry?
Sharon’s experiences have been broad and deep, but my view is her leadership of Build-A-Bear Workshop and her ability to leverage a breadth of relevant licenses—both creatively and operationally—in support of that brand has been essentially a ‘clinic’ in how to do it incredibly well.

What will Sharon’s legacy be, in terms of the lasting impact she has had on the people and businesses she has worked with?
Sharon is unique in that she will have left a lasting legacy on multiple industries: toys, licensing, and retail. But what’s consistent about her impact on those industries is how she showed up every day: as an incredibly smart, empathetic leader who never accepted the status quo or took on a challenge at which she couldn’t excel. She did all of this and she did it with heart. Every Build-A-Bear bear is given a heart by a child or a fan. Sharon showed up for all of us with her heart intact and we’re all better for having worked with her.

What is one lesson from Sharon that you will carry throughout your own career?
I never saw Sharon come upon a problem or issue that she couldn’t find a way to address or solve. That’s extraordinary. It’s the combination of her head and heart that made the difference in every one of those situations. That’s an approach we can all learn from.

The Hall of Fame luncheon is a fundraiser for our Scholarship Program and will support the LI Foundation in its mission to inspire the next generation of licensing professionals globally. For table and sponsorship opportunities at this year’s Hall of Fame Gala, please contact Maria Ungaro at [email protected]