Owners
Founder Clay Daniel is a graduate of Harvard University and Dallas Theological Seminary. After five years as a campus minister working with Yale students, he returned to the field of education in 2008 and founded Clayborne in 2009 because he saw the promise of a powerful recipe: one part one-to-one test preparation; one part consummately flexible program; one part relentlessly responsive team of tutors. Also, he just really loves these tests! It’s like Christmas every time a new one comes out. But he also loves coaching students to the successful realization of their dreams. In his free time, Clay enjoys spending time with his wife and two kids, playing and watching sports, and playing Scrabble, for which he has a national ranking (translation: he has spent way too much time playing Scrabble).
Clay’s credentials in test preparation:
• 10+ years in test preparation with the SSAT, SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, and LSAT
• Perfect GRE score (old GRE twice; new GRE once)
• Perfect GMAT score
• 178 LSAT score (99th percentile)
• SAT 2360 (800 CR, 800 M, 760 W)
• ACT 36 (36E, 36M, 36R, 36S)
Chief Executive Officer Lee Elberson was born and raised in southern Louisiana. He joined the Marines at age 17 in an effort to find some discipline in his life. Well, he found it and went on to graduate from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette with a Bachelor of Science in physics and was inducted into the honors society Sigma Pi Sigma. He did his graduate work at the University of Maryland in atomic physics attempting to shape molecules using custom lasers. He did further research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory working on relativistic electron transport in a laser-induced plasma, i.e. using big lasers to make small stars.
Needless to say, Lee has a love for all things quantifiable. He is an energetic person who has a passion for educating others and he enjoys coaching young adults to achieve their goals. Lee is committed to engaging Charlottesville's community and providing the best possible future for its residents. When not working, you will find him volunteering with Community Investment Collaborative, a local non-profit where Lee teaches entrepreneurs to develop the tools to start and maintain a successful business. You may see Lee at networking events or pitching a new business idea. For fun, Lee enjoys high intensity interval training, playing strategy games, watching Imax 3D movies, or creating some ridiculously intricate spreadsheet.
College Entrance Exam Program Manager Scott Webster is a native son of Charlottesville and completed his undergraduate studies at UVA with a degree in History. Growing up in local public schools, he flourished as a result of the opportunities afforded him by “gifted” programs and superior teachers; however, as he began to work with under-resourced youth through Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministries (CALM), he noticed the painfully obvious disparity between his and his students’ educational experience. He subsequently decided to study race dynamics and specialized in African history with a focus on race relations and youth culture in Apartheid South Africa and in Harlem, New York. Building on his studies, he continued to work with youth even as he worked in the IT industry as a Software Quality Analyst. Finding IT dull and deadening, he decided to take a leap of faith and pursue his true passion for teaching and joined the Clayborne team in 2012 as a tutor. Bringing his experience in product quality assurance and in test prep to bear, he now manages client/tutor interactions and ensures that Clayborne families realize their academic goals. He continues to tutor the SSAT, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT even as he oversees all ACT and SAT programs. In his free time, Scott enjoys reading classics and biographies, fumbling around the squash court, planning out his garden, and going on grand adventures with his wife and adorable little girls.