Clay Willis

Clay Willis is a mission- and impact-driven strategic communications leader who has devoted his career to the belief that public education is our most crucial lever for redressing systemic inequities and injustice and advancing democracy.

As the Director of Marketing and Communications, Clay helps connect Pivot and CORE’s transformative work to education leaders seeking to grow coherence and accelerate student outcomes by crafting clear and compelling communications and bringing human-centered strategies to life.

Before joining Pivot, Clay spent six years with WestEd leading communications strategy, marketing, and brand growth for a diverse portfolio of special initiatives, research projects, and professional learning services. Additionally, as a project lead and subject matter expert with WestEd’s Regional Comprehensive Centers, Clay worked closely with multiple state departments of education to scale communications impact through an original strategic communications capacity-building approach.

Clay previously led communications operations for NewSchools Venture Fund and worked with the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Clay began his career as a journalist and received his B.S. from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in Journalism and Anthropology.