About
Clay Holk, a U.S. Army veteran and native of Magnolia Springs, Alabama, has spent his career building bridges between the public, private and social sectors. As the inaugural grants director for the State of Oklahoma, Clay Holk helped state and local governments respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and stood up the state’s first broadband office, engaging public and private sector leaders on reducing the digital divide. While at the City of Tulsa, he led early COVID response efforts to support both the health and economic well-being of the city. He is a recent graduate of the Kellogg School of Management and the Harvard Kennedy School, where he was awarded the Taubman Center Prize for outstanding research on urban issues. Prior to his graduate work, Clay served as an armor officer in the United States Army, developed the early strategy and analytics efforts at the American Red Cross and worked in investment banking for JPMorgan Chase in New York. Clay received his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.
Awards and Honors
Taubman Center Prize for Urban Research
2023 Emerging Changemaker – Kellogg Youn Impact Scholars
Education
- M.A., Public Policy, Harvard University
- Dissertation: “Getting Home Sooner: Improving the Quality and Affordability of Housing in Tulsa”
- MBA, Northwestern University
- B.S., Foreign Services, Georgetown University
Research interests and areas of expertise
- Data analysis
- Statistics
- Negotiations and management