clay linkous - Biography

With over 25 years of leadership experience, Clay knows what it takes for individuals, teams, and

organizations to achieve success! Clay currently provides speaking, coaching, and consulting services to organizations in multiple industries. These include healthcare, insurance, real estate, construction, non-profit, distribution, retail, and the personal beauty industry. He is recognized for his ability to develop customized solutions that address specific client challenges while also effectively connecting with stakeholders at all levels of an organization.



Clay and his wife own and operate several small businesses and a nonprofit in Knoxville, TN. Their businesses have been recognized as a Great Place to Work for multiple years, and in 2025, they were named a Great Place for Working Parents. Additionally, their nonprofit was recently featured on Soledad O’Brien’s show “Matter of Fact” for the creative ways it is helping to address the affordable housing crisis.

From 2021 to 2023, Clay led the VIP service strategy of a healthcare provider that Fortune Magazine named as a company that will change the world. Newsweek named the company one of America’s most loved workplaces for two years in a row. Through executive coaching, leadership skill development, change management, and system improvements, he helped ensure that the VIP Service delivered to patients included guidance on how they, as providers, could address the social determinants of health they face daily. This included needs outside of traditional clinical care, such as housing, transportation, food insecurity, and loneliness.

Since 2012, Clay has worked with Huron Consulting Group (formerly the Studer Group) as an International Executive Coach, Speaker, and Consultant. In this role, he coached hundreds of organizations and thousands of leaders in the US, Canada, and Europe. He coached organizations with as many as 90,000 employees and $26 billion in revenue. As a consultant, he has been recognized numerous times for his impact at client organizations, client satisfaction, and client retention.

Clay’s early leadership background included leading clinical and non-clinical areas of responsibility in a Level 1 Trauma Academic Medical Center. At one point, he was responsible for managing a budget exceeding $ 50 million and supervising over 150 full-time employees.

Clay and his wife, Katie, have been married for 22 years and live outside Knoxville, TN, with their large family. Clay and Katie are considered community leaders in the Knoxville area, helping to make the region a better place through the businesses they own, the investments they make in the community, the nonprofit they founded, and the six kids they are doing their best to raise along the way.