Clarence Crawford

Clarence C. Crawford is an adjunct professor in the American University’s

Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program. He was appointed by

Gov. Hogan and reappointed by Gov. Wes Moore to serve as a Member of

the Maryland State Board of Education where he currently serves as the

President Emeritus. Clarence is the founder and president of the Teach ‘em

to Fish CDC. He is also a member of the Office of Personnel Management’s

(OPM) Presidential Rank Review Panel, and he is an executive coach and

mentor.

Beginning as a GS-1, Clarence learned how to progress through the ranks and how to become a

strong leader, enabling him to become a senior executive, ES-6 chief operating officer and chief

financial officer. He used innovative approaches to lead successful transformations. Clarence

specialized in starting up new functions, creating high performance organizations, and turning

around less than stellar ones. His senior executive career included positions at the General

Accounting Office, Office of Management and Budget, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and OPM

where he oversaw the $1.8 trillion Federal employee pension and benefits fund programs.

Clarence’s career also included assignments as a Metropolitan Police Officer, Presidential

Management Intern, and numerous assignments at the Internal Revenue Service.

Upon retirement from the Federal government with 39 years of service in 2006, Clarence was

recruited as a managing director to create a Deloitte presence among Federal CFOs. He grew his

account into one of the Federal practice’s best performing accounts. Clarence retired from Deloitte

Consulting, LLP in April 2014. He later served as the Senior Vice President for Corporate Solutions

for the Addx Corporation. Finally, he completed his appointment as a Principal Director (Maryland)

and 1st Vice Chair of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Board.

For his outstanding service as President of the Maryland State Board of Education (2020-2024),

Clarence earned Citations from the Maryland Governor and Maryland State Senate, Resolutions

from the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board and the

Maryland State Board of Education., and AIM Institute for Learning & Research’s Sally L. Smith

Founders Award. In addition, he was a Meritorious Presidential Rank Award recipient, elected as a

National Academy of Public Administration Fellow, and received the African American Federal

Executive Association’s Ebenezer Bassett Award. He earned his MPA in Finance and Bachelor of

Science in Administration of Justice from the American University, and he has taken classes at the

Capital Bible Seminary.

His life experiences have taught Clarence that success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the

opposition you have encountered…. (Orison Swett Marden). Clarence’s success has come because of

having dyslexia and graduating high school unable to read. By the grace of God, strong support

from family and friends, and a bullheaded determination, he taught himself to read as a 22-year-old

college freshman-police officer. Learning to read opened the doorway that unleashed dyslexia’s

superpowers for Clarence’s true success.