Clay earned his Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Auburn University in 1996 and served as Senior Class President. He worked as an RN at East Alabama Medical Center in the Emergency Department and Cardiac Catheterization Lab for five years before moving to Atlanta, GA in 2001. While in Atlanta, he worked as a staff RN and Clinical Supervisor in the Emergency Department at Northside Hospital for fifteen years. During that period, he worked intermittent travel nursing assignments in northern California within the Catholic Healthcare West system. He returned to Auburn in 2016 and completed the dual-track Master's Degree Program at AUCON in 2018, earning a Master of Science in Nursing Education and Primary Care Nurse Practitioner. While in graduate school, he worked as an RN for Encompass Home Health and Hospice. Clay worked as a nurse practitioner for Nexus Pain Center in Columbus, GA from 2019 until joining the AUCON faculty as an Assistant Clinical Professor in February 2021. Clay teaches primarily in the senior level nursing courses including critical care and leadership. Clay serves as the Vice President for Sigma Theta Tau International, Theta Delta local chapter and on the Auburn University Graduation Committee. Within the College of Nursing, he serves on the Outreach and Undergraduate Evaluation Committees, faculty advisor for the Initiative for Representation in Nursing (IRN) and is a professional member of the American Association of Men in Nursing (AAMN), Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society and Golden Key Honor Society.