Martin Herrington

CFO and Managing General Partner

At the young age of only 5 years Martin Herrington was instilled with the entrepreneurial spirit when he sold plastic play “milk bottles” of water to homes in the Montreal suburb where he grew up. Seizing the opportunities that existed during his teenage years, he shoveled sidewalks on bitter cold Canadian winter days and laboured with lawn mowers during the stifling hot summers to pay himself a decent salary and eventually cover some of the expense of attending University.

After graduating from the University of Calgary in 1989 with a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance, Martin chose to try out the corporate world and joined the prestigious Chubb Insurance Company of Canada as an Underwriter. After three years of reading insurance policies and falling asleep at his desk, Martin realized that his calling was elsewhere. Ever since his University days he had visited his brother Chris in Los Angeles during the summer and seen the early stages of an exciting business that would become the Herrington Teddy Bear Company. In 1992 Chris invited him to be a partner in Herrington & Company so Martin headed south to the crazy streets of Venice, California for a “6 month trial” and never looked back.

Helping build HTB from a small “one garage company” with 2 people in Venice in to our current 10,000 sq ft. facility in Irvine, Martin has carried out many responsibilities in all aspects of the business including Sales, Production, Human Resources, IT, and even covering a few checks with a credit card during the early years! Today Martin heads up the Financial side of the business as well as operations, HR, and IT in his capacity as Managing General Partner and CFO.

Mr. Herrington holds a very distinguished record of service in non-profit organizations in Canada and the U.S. From his youthful involvement in Canadian politics, Martin joined Toastmasters International where he was awarded the Able Toastmaster designation along with serving as a Club President and Area Director. Toastmasters led him to the Youth Motivation Task Force (YMTF) of Los Angeles to speak to and inspire the children of our schools who might need the motivation to complete their education and find their own entrepreneurial dream. Now a member of the Board of Directors of the Orange County YMTF, Martin continues to enjoy sharing his story and inspiration with school visits.