Clara Hayley Axam is a magna cum laude graduate of Duke University and holds a law degree from the University of Michigan. Ms. Axam is an experienced manager, skilled facilitator and certified mediator. Over the course of her career, she has applied her legal, management, and facilitation skills to change initiatives in a number of environments across public, private, philanthropic and community sectors.
Most recently, Ms. Axam served as Director of the Atlanta Office of Enterprise Community Partners, a national non-profit intermediary which invested more than $175 million in grants, equity and debt to support community development and affordable housing production in Atlanta.
Prior to directing the Atlanta Office, Ms. Axam was Project Director for the Mechanicsville Community Learning Collaborative (MCLC), an Enterprise education initiative funded by a $12.5 million grant from The Annenberg Foundation. MCLC, which integrated education reform, revitalization initiatives and community capacity building in a low income Atlanta community, serves as a successful national model for transformative, school centered neighborhood revitalization.
Previously, Ms. Axam served as Deputy Superintendent for Operations, then Chief of Staff, of the Atlanta Public School System. As Deputy Superintendent, she had oversight responsibility for human resources, information services and student support services, including the District’s $420 million BuildSmart construction program, which defined the school master facility program based on the instructional vision, demographic and economic development projections, and community engagement.
Prior to her association with the Atlanta Public Schools, Ms. Axam was President and CEO of the Corporation for Olympic Development in Atlanta(CODA), directing the design and construction of pedestrian corridors and parks and the installation of 37 works of public art, all of which became Atlanta’s permanent legacy from the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. CODA’s development of comprehensive redevelopment plans for seven inner city “Olympic ring” neighborhoods, is credited with jumpstarting the revitalization of Summerhill, the Auburn Avenue commercial and historic districts, Reynoldstown and Mechanicsville.
Before her work at CODA, Ms. Axam was a Principal in a national management consulting practice which provided significant direction to cities, counties, school systems and airports in the development of minority and disadvantaged business programs and employment initiatives.
She has served in the cabinets of two mayors—Maynard H. Jackson and Andrew Young—with responsibility for the administrative services of the city, including human resources, labor relations, fleet management, purchasing, and general services.