Shawne P. Kleckner (born May 22, 1972 in

Webster City, Iowa Webster City is a city in Hamilton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 7,825 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Hamilton County. Webster City is known as 'Boone River Country', as the Boone River meanders along the east sid ...

) is an American entrepreneur, co-founder and former president of Right Stuf, Inc., a company that distributes

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

, and figures/merchandise throughout the world.

Biography

Kleckner attended

Southeast Polk High School Southeast Polk Community School District, (often shortened to SEP, SE Polk)is a public school district located in suburban Des Moines and rural Polk County, Iowa, including the towns of Altoona, Mitchellville, Pleasant Hill, Runnells, and t ...

and graduated from

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

with a degree in

Computer Engineering Computer engineering (CoE or CpE) is a branch of electrical engineering and computer science that integrates several fields of computer science and electronic engineering required to develop computer hardware and software. Computer engineers ...

with a minor in History. In the late 1980s, Kleckner worked for Century Systems, a

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

-based computer reseller. Robert Ferson, owner of Century Systems, was a fan of the 1960s television show ''

Astro Boy ''Astro Boy'', known in Japan by its original name , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. It was serialized in Kobunsha's ''Shōnen'' from 1952 to 1968. The 112 chapters were collected into 23 ''tankōbon'' vo ...

''. Originally a shell company created to buy and resell telescopes, Right Stuff (the original company name) was reborn as an animation sales company. While Ferson is no longer with the company, ''

'' remains one of Right Stuf's top sellers. Kleckner is a recipient of the ACE North American Entrepreneur of the Year award, and he has also been featured in ''Inc.'' and ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' articles on

entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

. The Right Stuf International made the Inc. 500 list in 1999. He was also selected as one of Des Moines' 40 Under 40 by the Des Moines Business Record. Concurrent with his efforts at Right Stuf, Kleckner previously served as Vice President of Business Affairs and CFO of Century Systems (a systems integrator of computer hardware and software) and Senior Vice President of Intersphere Lasergames (a manufacturer of Lasertag equipment), and has served on several corporate boards. Current board memberships include: Trinlogix, LLC, a software company specializing in three dimensional modeling of financial and other data for analysis, and the Des Moines Zen Center, a

Soto Zen Soto may refer to: Geography *Soto (Aller), parish in Asturias, Spain * Soto (Las Regueras), parish in Asturias, Spain * Soto, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles *Soto, Russia, a rural locality (a ''selo'') in Megino-Kangalassky District of the Sakha ...

Buddhist organization. Kleckner also serves as an advisor for

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...

. Kleckner is passionate about the environment, and when his company moved to a new facility in 2005, he remodeled the facility to be

LEED Certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, constructio ...

, utilizing

geothermal heating Geothermal heating is the direct use of geothermal energy for some heating applications. Humans have taken advantage of geothermal heat this way since the Paleolithic era. Approximately seventy countries made direct use of a total of 270 PJ o ...

and cooling. He supports events and organizations including Orchard Place mental health shelter, Trees Forever, Paws and Effect, Animal Rescue League of Iowa, Reggie's Sleepout, The Rooftop Foundation, Central Iowa's Boys & Girls Club, Holding Tiny Hands Foundation, Amanda the Panda, and the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence. His business also sponsors a program that provides work experience to children with special needs from the Dallas Center-Grimes Community School District. On December 14, 2022 Shawne stepped down from his position at Right Stuf.

References

External links

Article on history of Right Stuf International
Part 1
Article on history of Right Stuf International
Part 2 * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kleckner, Shawne 1972 births 21st-century American businesspeople Living people Businesspeople from Des Moines, Iowa Anime industry Manga industry People from Webster City, Iowa