Mr. C. Ray Clements is founder, CEO, and managing member of the Clements Group (CG), a professional institutional advancement and resource development counseling and consulting firm. He has managed or supervised literally hundreds of major giftscampaigns, planned giving programs, and other fundraising activities over a 20-year period. His clients have included community colleges, vocational-technical schools, K-12 school districts, universities, hospitals, arts organizations, community foundations, Boy Scouts of America, United Way, and other nonprofit organizations.

Mr. Clements founded the Clements Group (formerly Clements & Associates) in 1986. Since then, CG has assisted over 650 clients in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Canada, and Puerto Rico raise over half a billion dollars. Mr. Clements is the former chair of The Giving Institute: Lead Consultants to Non-Profits (formerly American Association of Fundraising Counsel), the elite organization that provides leadership in advancing philanthropy and ensuring that member firms meet the highest standards of ethics, integrity, and service.

Prior to forming CG, Mr. Clements was the director of development for Utah Technical College at Provo/Orem (now Utah Valley University) and executive director of the UTC Foundation. During that same period of time, 1983 to 1986, he was a partner in the resource development consulting firm of Tueller, Clements & Stoddard. During the 1970s, Mr. Clements served as deputy director of the development office for Brigham Young University, where he was architect of their ultra-successful planned giving program.

Over the last several years, Mr. Clements has presented in the private sector program and participated in the Executive Institute at the annual convention of the Council for Resource Development (CRD) and has been an instructor in CRD's popular Interns' Program as well as a presenter at numerous CRD regional and national conferences. In addition, Mr. Clements has led workshops and discussions at regional and national meetings of the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) particularly related to implementation of the innovative CG Institutional Advancement and Effectiveness Process. He is also principal presenter at many of CG’s acclaimed major gifts campaign seminars.

A creative thinker, Mr. Clements has authored several articles in the Community College Journal, official publication of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC); in Case Currents, the magazine of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE); and for the American Vocational Association (AVA). During 1985, he authored the AVA manual "Effective Strategies for Resource Advancement," which has assisted numerous development officers in becoming more effective. He has taught seminars and workshops at a variety of AVA conferences and has been a presenter in the planned giving track at CASE
conventions.

Mr. Clements attended Ricks College, a two-year institution in Rexburg, Idaho, prior to earning both a bachelor's degree and master's degree in accounting at Brigham Young University. He is a CPA licensed to practice in California and Colorado. Mr. Clements practiced accounting with one of the eight largest national accounting firms and has been the controller and manager of medical and construction firms in California, Colorado, and Utah.

Dr. L. Pendleton Armistead, President of the Clements Group, has been involved with community college education for over twenty years. As a member of the CG team, Dr. Armistead has provided direct consultation with over sixty two-year community and technical colleges (at system, district, and institutional levels) with their institutional advancement efforts and has been engaged with development activities with over 150 two-year colleges during the past 13 years. His primary areas of expertise include implementation of strategic plans, conducting feasibility/implementation studies, and planning for and implementing development assessments, major gifts campaigns, and foundation board retreats.

Prior to joining the Clements Group, Dr. Armistead held instructional positions with the City Colleges of Chicago, Florida Junior College at Jacksonville, and New River Community College in Dublin, Virginia. He also held the position of assistant dean of instruction at John Wood Community College in Quincy, Illinois. Most recently, Dr. Armistead was the assistant to the president at John Wood Community College, a position he held for five years. His primary areas of responsibility included supervising all resource development and institutional advancement functions. Specific involvements and areas of expertise include federal and state grant development, strategic planning, institutional research, outcomes assessment, and all private resource development initiatives (including the JWCC Foundation Board). Dr. Armistead was also the campaign manager during the college's first major gifts campaign.

Dr. Armistead's professional involvements have included membership with CRD (with participation in the Specialist Training Program, National Conference Planning Committee, and the Federal Funding Task Force), Illinois Resource Development Commission, and AACC's Professional Administrators’ Development Institute. He has also acted as a field reader for five USDOE programs.

Dr. Armistead holds an associate’s degree from Brevard College (NC), both a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Winthrop College (SC), and a Doctorate of Community College Education from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He has been a member of the Clements Group since 1993.

Dr. Gross served as President of Western Dakota Technical Institute (WDT) from April of 2003 until May 2008. WDT is one of four accredited 2-year technical colleges serving South Dakota. WDT provides services to residents in the western half of the State. Dr. Gross has initiated the college’s first-ever major gifts campaign resulting in numerous unique and exciting new partnerships for the college.

In addition, Dr. Gross is owner and President of RDR Associates, a higher education consulting firm that specializes in educational technology and leadership. RDR has worked with over 75 colleges and universities in over 20 states and Canada.

Previously, Dr. Gross served as Dean of Telecommunications at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Part of his responsibilities included developing a comprehensive seven-county interactive video and audio network providing educational programming to nearly 5,000 students per year. He also was part of the team that helped design and implement the Iowa Communications Network, a state-owned high capacity fiber network that interconnects over 700 locations with interactive video, voice and data networking.

Dr. Gross has also worked for the University of Missouri and Lincoln University in Missouri. Additionally, he has served as a board member and chair of the Instructional Telecommunications Council of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), and as a founding member of the Community College Satellite Network Commission. He currently serves as a member of AACC’s Commission on Emerging Trends and Technology.

He currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs and the Fall River County Museum board.

He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri in Higher and Adult Education and Educational Telecommunications and is the author of several professional papers and co-author of one book. He also served as editor of “Signals” a newsletter of the League for Innovation in the Community College. He also served as chair of one committee and member of another committee of the Congressional Office of Science and Technology which helped to set initial policy for distance learning programs nationwide in the 1980’s.

Christine P. Anderson, Senior Vice President of the Clements Group (CG), joined the firm in April 2000. Her experience includes work in community college institutional advancement, foundation management, major gifts campaigns, and marketing and public relations.

As part of the CG team, Ms. Anderson has served many clients in feasibility studies, major gifts campaigns, and development assessments. She is also a frequent presenter on behalf of the Clements Group team at regional and national conferences, including Council for Resource Development (CRD), American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), and regional and state organizations. Ms. Anderson also serves as a primary presenter for CG’s acclaimed national major gifts campaign seminar.

Prior to joining the Clements Group, Ms. Anderson worked at Ashland Community College (Ashland, Kentucky) for six and a half years. As the first development officer for ACC, she was responsible for developing all donor records as well as developing and maintaining foundation initiatives, the annual budget, and the investment of its endowed funds. She developed components for a comprehensive resource development program for the college to include annual giving, planned giving, ongoing major gifts, special events, and donor recognition programs.

Prior to serving as the director of development at Ashland Community College, she specialized in community relations for a public library and taught reading and writing to women with low-level reading skills at a literacy center. Having served in adult education and higher education for over eleven years, she is dedicated to the vision and mission of community college education. Ms. Anderson brings knowledge, expertise, and commitment to institutional advancement and foundation development, and joined the Clements Group to utilize her expertise on a national level.

A native of Iowa, she currently resides in Culloden, West Virginia. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Education and a Master of Arts in Journalism with an emphasis in Public Relations, from College of the Ozarks and Marshall University, respectively.

Mr. LePage joined the Clements Group (CG) in 1999 and acted as lead consultant for ACT, Inc., in the creation of a network of over two hundred workforce development certification, training, and assessment centers in partnership with community and technical colleges across the country. In addition to his role as senior vice president for the firm, he also serves as lead consultant for all workforce development efforts on behalf of the Clements Group. He is currently assisting the Kentucky Community and Technical College System and colleges on a state wide Workforce Competitiveness Initiative. Bob is advising the Council for Occupational Research and Design (CORD) in developing the National Adult Career Pathway program. Bob is also assisting Harrisburg Areas Community College on a multi-campus major gifts campaign.

His past CG clients include York County Community College (ME), Prince George’s Community College (MD), Edison Community College (OH), Farmingdale State University of New York (NY), LaGuardia Community College (NY), Springfield Technical Community College (MA), Los Angeles Community College District (CA), among many others.

Mr. LePage is a frequent presenter at national conferences, including the League for Innovation for the Community College, American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), the Council for Resource Development (CRD), and the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers (NCATC). Additionally, Mr. LePage directs and acts as lead faculty for CG’s highly-acclaimed two-day training seminar entitled “Workforce Development Academy: Building Business & Industry Partnerships”.

He has been a professor of business administration at Holyoke Community College and has instruction experience in marketing, finance, management, sports management, sports law, and e-commerce classes. Bob was department chair for of one of the first community college Sport Management programs in the country and was actively involved in the fundraising efforts for the Bartley Athletic Center (Health Wellness). Bob also has served as a sabbatical replacement instructor at Springfield College for management, marketing, and finance classes. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts and dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Marketing, and Finance and Insurance from Northeastern University.

Becky Mentesti, Senior Vice President for the Clements Group, combines a background of 17 years in education along with 10 yearsof business and industry development. At John Wood Community College she served as faculty member, academic administrator, and coordinator of the foundation where she chaired the college’s first major gifts campaign. Her private-sector experience includes human resource development, workforce training, sales strategies and new business development, internal/external marketing, and public relations. She has been a speaker at state and national conferences and has also served as a community consultant for numerous fundraising campaigns. In addition, she has organized volunteer management plans, conducted strategic planning seminars, and chaired a variety of special events.

For the Clements Group, she has conducted feasibility studies, major gifts campaigns and development assessments, strategic planning, and alumni development. Ms. Mentesti has also established customized public relations/marketing plans, built established special events programs, conducted unique internal campaigns, built regional campaigns, and created business and industry partnership expansion, among other accomplishments.

Her previous Clements Group clients include successful campaigns at Western Wyoming Community College and North Central Missouri College. She is the lead consultant servicing West Kentucky Community & Technical College, Western Dakota Technical Institute, State Fair Community College, and Kankakee Community College. Most recently, Ms. Mentesti served as lead consultant and research coordinator for the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education’s successful state-wide development assessment.

Ms. Mentesti received her Bachelor of Science degree from Culver-Stockton College, Canton, MO, and her Master of Education degree from Southwest Baptist University, Bolivar, MO. She serves as CG’s marketing and imaging specialist.