Clayton provides strategic communications advice and support to public and private companies in the U.S. and abroad in a variety of complex special situations, including friendly and hostile mergers and acquisitions, corporate crises and shareholder activism. In addition, he provides ongoing public and investor relations support to help companies influence their key stakeholders and advance their business objectives. His areas of expertise include:

Mergers and Acquisitions

He has advised on a number of both friendly and contested transactions, including: PerkinElmer in its proposed sale of its Applied, Food and Enterprise Services businesses to New Mountain Capital; Jack-in-the-Box in its acquisition of Del Taco; Mailchimp in its sale to Intuit; GuideWell in its acquisition of Triple-S management; Sinclair Oil in its combination with HollyFrontier Corporation and Holly Energy Partners; W.R. Grace in its sale to Standard Industries Holdings; Tribune Publishing in its sale to Alden Global Capital; Perspecta in its acquisition by Peraton; Nesco Holdings in its acquisition of Custom Truck one Source; Virtusa in its sale to Baring Private Equity Asia; BMC Stock Holdings in its combination with Builders FirstSource; BorgWarner in its acquisitions of Delphi Technologies and AKASOL AG; Cray in its sale to Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Perry Ellis in its take private transaction; International Flavors & Fragrances in its acquisition of Frutarom; Agrium and PotashCorp in their merger of equals; NextEra Energy on its proposed acquisition of Oncor; Danone in its acquisition of WhiteWave Foods; Teva Pharmaceuticals on its offer to acquire Mylan and its subsequent acquisition of Allergan Generics; Humana in its merger with Aetna; and General Electric in its plan to sell most of its GE Capital assets.

Crisis and Issues Management

He has helped companies facing a variety of issues, including litigation, product liability and recalls, unplanned leadership changes, data breaches, corporate restructurings and workforce reductions, earnings surprises and restatements, gender discrimination and sexual harassment issues, and regulatory actions.

Shareholder Activism

He has worked with a number of companies in activist situations and proxy contests, including: Sumo Logic (Scalar Gauge); Huntsman (Starboard); Humana (Starboard); Elanco (Sachem Head); Virtusa (New Mountain Vantage); Perspecta (JANA); Progenics Pharmaceuticals (Velan Capital); Eagle Materials (Sachem Head); Natus Medical (Voce Capital); Newell Brands (Carl Icahn and Starboard); Rent-A-Center (Engaged Capital); Bio-Rad Laboratories (Corvex); The Brink’s Company (Starboard) and Perry Ellis (Legion Partners).

Ongoing Public and Investor Relations

He works closely with senior management teams to develop and enhance overall corporate communications strategies, including quarterly earnings preparation, investor events, profile-raising and thought leadership activities and employee communications.

Clayton joined Joele Frank in 2014. He received a BA in English, cum laude, from Yale University and an MS in Journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.