Clay Mathile understands the challenges of private business owners. As the former owner of Iams, a company committed to helping dogs and cats to live long, healthy lives through superior nutrition, he increased sales from $12.5 million to $1 billion. Clay cites professional management as one of the critical keys for this growth. In 1999, the Mathile family sold Iams to international conglomerate Procter & Gamble for $2.3 billion.   

During his incredibly challenging journey, Clay developed a belief in free enterprise for the greater good. It became a dream for him to help private businesses to become successful, profitable, and sustainable so that they could provide employment in their communities and help their communities to thrive, and in so doing help the people in those communities to have better lives. To turn his passions into a reality, he founded Aileron, a nonprofit foundation. He maintains a tremendous respect for business owners who risk their capital to employ others.  

Still active in several business ventures, Clay devotes most of his time to philanthropic interests. In addition to serving as chairman of the board of Aileron, Clay, with his wife, Mary, created the following initiatives to foster hope and inspire change in the Dayton, Ohio, region and around the world: 

• The Mathile Family Foundation, which since 1989 has granted more than $230 million to nonprofit organizations that help children and families in need. 
• The Glen at St. Joseph, a life-changing campus for 36 single mothers and their young children that is the realization of a longtime dream of Mary’s. The Glen offers mothers the opportunity to pursue their educational and career goals while their children attend a state-of-the-art early-learning center on campus. 
•  The Mathile Institute for the Advancement of Human Nutrition, whose charter is to tackle issues of world hunger and malnutrition. Its mission is to create innovative, effective, and sustainable solutions to alleviate nutritional inadequacies in children. 

Clay also serves as a trustee on a select group of nonprofit boards focused on education, medical innovation, and social justice. Clay and Mary live in Dayton, Ohio. Clay insists that his most important roles are husband, father of 5, and grandfather of 15. Life as a family man has led to yet another dream, “a family united forever.”