Remembering Dave Clemons: Country-boy with candor and Fortune-500 finance skills

This month I had to say goodbye to a colleague, a friend, and PacDie’s Chief Financial Officer, Dave Clemons. It was a tremendous loss, a hit to PacDie, and it gave me a lot to reflect upon.

I met Dave back in 2011 in Kansas City. My company had decided to consolidate -- meaning close -- a manufacturing site we had acquired and that Dave had financial responsibility for. I was 30 and I knew everything. He was twice my age. 

I walked into his office with a Tumi briefcase in hand wearing a sleek blazer. Dave wore his off-the-shelf jeans and a pair of cheap tennis shoes. He had silver hair and he wore a mustard-colored sweater. Dave put his feet up on the desk and, before we dove in, he got right to it.

"I want to give you one piece of advice, Elizabeth," he said calmly. "Don't let these boys run you around," he told me. "I'm a country boy and they try to run me around all the time." He paused. "And, Elizabeth, I don't let them. The numbers are the numbers. They don't lie." 

I would negotiate with Dave over the next several weeks. His first concern was always the employees of the company we were closing. Dave's personal relocation package was always the last line on the agenda. 

I would have the pleasure of working along side Dave over the next five years in several capacities. He was recognized by his peers for his competence and his candor. 

In 2017, the company Dave and I worked for relocated me to Green Bay, WI. My numbers were good -- real good -- but things didn’t work out. I remembered his first words of advice. "Don't let these boys run you around...The numbers don't lie." 

So I decided to purchase a company with my partner, Khiem Hoang, and we needed a finance professional who would bring us credibility.  At the same time, the company Dave was at was going through yet another consolidation. "I'm not going through another closure," he told me. So we brought Dave on with his Fortune-500 finance skills and country-boy candor.

He showed up to his first visit at PacDie in uniform: beat up tennis shoes, a pair of Levis, and that same mustard-colored shirt he wore back in 2011 when I first walked into his office. He looked into the company's finances. "The underpinnings are strong," he told me. "There's opportunity here." And I knew I could trust him. 

So we went on to acquire PacDie, with Dave as a resource each step of the day. He believed in me and he believed in the PacDie team from day one. He helped make my dreams of owning my own company come true. And he helped position PacDie for the future. 

At Dave's funeral, I learned my story wasn't unique. The self-proclaimed country boy had a long history of putting others first and inspiring success in others.

Dave will be remembered at PacDie for being humble, helping others, and embracing the PacDie difference. His competence and his country-boy candor will live on in PacDie as we enter this next chapter of development. May we remember the role he played each step of the way. #pacdiedifference