Clay Garner is a partner to public and private sector visionaries — trusted with realizing high-stakes impact.

As the Chief Innovation Officer of San Jose — America's 10th largest city and the heart of Silicon Valley — Clay grew the Mayor's "venture studio" to address digital inclusion, public safety and crisis response, transportation, and procurement modernization — driving transformations that became a Harvard case study. Before entering public service, Clay held positions at Google and the United Nations Population Fund. He is the co-author of a forthcoming technical research paper on generative AI and intellectual property. Additionally, he serves as an advisor to elected officials and founders for innovation sector growth, public-private partnerships, and go-to-market.

A Schwarzman Scholar and Committee of 100 Next Generation Leadership Fellow, Clay has shared his insights on global stages such as NVIDIA GTC, CoMotion LA, Bloomberg CityLab, and the Asia Society Future of U.S. & China Conference. He holds a B.A. with Honors from Stanford University and a Master of Management Science from Tsinghua University. He is fluent in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.