{"id":163964,"date":"2026-02-26T09:59:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=163964"},"modified":"2026-03-04T09:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T14:28:08","slug":"walking-through-open-doors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2026\/02\/26\/walking-through-open-doors\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking through open doors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWright State was affordable, it was relevant, it had an outstanding engineering program.\u201d \u2014Annette Clayton, 2026 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award recipient<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Annette Clayton \u201986 has spent a career walking through open doors \u2014 often before she knew exactly what was on the other side.<\/p>\n

That willingness to step forward, paired with a foundation built at Wright State University, carried Clayton from engineering classrooms in the 1980s to the highest levels of global leadership in manufacturing, energy and technology.<\/p>\n

The Wright State University Alumni Association<\/a> recognized that journey by naming Clayton the recipient of the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award, which honors graduates who have demonstrated sustained professional excellence, leadership and community impact, bringing distinction to the university through their integrity and lifetime achievements.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m personally very honored,\u201d Clayton said. \u201cI also think it represents how the university works and what its values are, which I\u2019m very proud to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clayton is now in what she calls a \u201cservice chapter\u201d of her career, serving as a non-executive director for several public and private companies, including Duke Energy, NXP Semiconductors, Oshkosh Corp. and Nordson. She also serves on private equity-backed boards, advising executive teams and mentoring CEOs.<\/p>\n

Before that chapter, Clayton built a more than 40-year career across some of the world\u2019s most recognizable companies. She spent more than two decades at General Motors, including serving as president of Saturn Corp., before leading global supply chain and operations roles at Dell. She later became CEO and president of Schneider Electric North America, overseeing a 30,000-employee organization generating more than $11 billion in annual sales.<\/p>\n

Clayton traces much of her professional mindset back to Wright State, where she enrolled during a period of rapid growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWright State was affordable, it was relevant, it had an outstanding engineering program,\u201d Clayton said.<\/p>\n

Clayton initially enrolled at Wright State as a computer engineering major, but quickly realized it was not the right fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to be an engineer\u2019s engineer,\u201d she said. \u201cI wanted to be a people\u2019s engineer.\u201d<\/p>\n

With guidance from an academic advisor, Clayton shifted her focus to general engineering<\/a> \u2014 a decision she credits with shaping her approach to leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe program was really about helping you learn to solve problems, helping you figure out how to solve problems that impact people,\u201d she said. \u201cThose foundations were really important, and they formulated my thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Annette Clayton, the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award recipient, credits Wright State with shaping the foundation of her career. \u201cIt was affordable, it was relevant, it had an outstanding engineering program,\u201d she said.<\/p><\/div>\n

Outside the classroom, Clayton gained early professional experience teaching labs and mentoring younger students, building both her confidence and her engineering skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeaching was one of the best ways to learn something,\u201d she said. \u201cWright State gave me that teaching mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many alumni, Clayton\u2019s memories extend beyond the classroom. She recalls the camaraderie of engineering students, navigating the campus tunnels, searching for parking spots and gathering with friends at the Rathskeller.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt became a family and a home for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After graduating from Wright State with a bachelor\u2019s degree in general engineering, Clayton earned a master\u2019s degree in engineering management from the University of Dayton.<\/p>\n

She credits Wright State and a cooperative education experience with General Motors with giving her the confidence to embrace uncertainty throughout her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI chose a path to walk through open doors,\u201d she said. \u201cI took a lot of special assignments. I was able to really thrive in environments where it was difficult and hard and required a lot of change.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Clayton, Wright State\u2019s Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award is both a personal milestone and a reflection of the university that helped shape her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt speaks volumes about the way the university thinks, about the culture, about the people,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m very proud to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From engineering classrooms at Wright State to executive roles in global industry, Annette Clayton credits her alma mater with shaping the mindset that guided her decades-long career. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":163972,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,733,4309,743,725,727,715,720],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-163964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-alumni-association","category-engineering-computer-science","category-home-news-sidebar","category-homepage-photos-and-video","category-news","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163964"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164098,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163964\/revisions\/164098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}