Clay Johnson

The Federal government is not good at spending our taxpayers' money effectively. Clay Johnson has a unique understanding of what the Federal government and its leaders must and can do to change this, how we can help, and the lessons to be learned by public and private sector leaders.

Clay knows how to effect change in our Federal government, the world's largest, most complex organization. As Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget from 2003 thru 2008, Clay led what most informed observers consider to be the most successful reform of the Federal government's management practices in modern times. As Executive Director of the Bush-Cheney Transition in 2000-2001, he organized and led what most students of such matters believe to be the most successful American presidential transition in recent memory, in spite of the fact that the new administration had only half the time normally available to transition to power. He was referred to by some as the Federal government's management guru and the chief steward of the people's money.

From his time as President of the nationally prominent Horchow and Neiman Marcus mail order companies prior to his government work, Clay also has the senior private sector management experience to understand whether and which private sector approaches are relevant to the government's management challenges, and how common or extraordinary those challenges are.

Clay is respected for his accomplishments in Washington by critics and supporters alike, and by his predecessors and successors. He is known to be most candid and apolitical, and his talks are conversational, lighthearted, and full of examples.

In addition to the experience mentioned above, Clay has held management positions at Pepsico, Citicorp, and the Dallas Museum of Art. He worked closely with Governor and President George W. Bush to select and recruit the senior officials for his administrations, and also served as Governor Bush's Chief of Staff.

He has a BS degree in Administrative Sciences from Yale University and an MS degree from MIT's Sloan School of Management.