Dr. Clara Denise West is the creator and owner of the Koko and Friends anthropomorphic characters. the President and C.E.O. of Koko and Friends Products, Inc.. the Founder and President of the Koko and Friends Foundation. and the former President and C.E.O. of D. W. Ink Publishing, Inc. West, a systems engineer, retired from the U.S. Army_x0019_s Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center, Redstone Arsenal, AL. She is a former propulsion systems test engineer with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at Marshall Space Flight Center, AL.



West holds a Ph.D. degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Alabama-Huntsville, Huntsville, AL. She earned Master_x0019_s degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alabama-Huntsville and Business and Security Management from Webster University, St. Louis, MO. Moreover, she received Bachelor degrees in Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics from the University of Memphis, Memphis, TN.



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