Dr. Clayton Ellis is a higher education fundraiser with over twelve years of experience cultivating and soliciting major and principal gifts. He is a leader in facilitating the fundraising, alumni relations, and other external programs for the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University (SMU). Since joining SMU in 2020, he has secured and supported more than $30M creating endowed deans and professorships, student scholarships, faculty research funds, and experiential learning programs for SMU’s $1.5B capital campaign, SMU Ignited.

Prior to joining SMU, Dr. Ellis served Baylor University as their Senior Director of Development for the School of Music and the College of Arts and Sciences. While there, he successfully managed two colleges focusing on the needs of each to implement into Baylor’s first comprehensive, $1.1B capital campaign, Give Light. This success ensured the creation of endowed professorships in the School of Music, the College of Arts & Sciences, the George W. Truett Theological Seminary as well as dozens of graduate and undergraduate scholarships, music and film festivals, and student engagement programs. In addition, he successfully ushered donors to naming opportunities at Baylor’s McLane Stadium and the Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation at the Hankamer School of Business.

Dr. Ellis graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance and performed in the Northeast for 4 years before beginning his career in philanthropy. He has a Master of Liberal Studies in Organizational Dynamics and Humanities from SMU and a Doctor of Education in Higher Education Policy from SMU. Clayton serves on the board of Second Thought Theatre in Dallas and is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Dallas Chapter. Clayton’s wife, Jessica, is the Executive Assistant to the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Woodbine Development Corporation in Dallas, Texas. They, along with their two children, live in Richardson.