Everything you need to know about Clay Pell, including his assets, income, and net worth, as well as his marriage and divorce from Olympic medalist Michelle Phan.
Clay Pell’s job and love life may appear unfortunate to those who view the glass half-empty. In 2014, he ran for Governor of Rhode Island but lost. His four-year marriage to Olympic medalist Michelle Kwan came to an end recently as well. Despite these setbacks, Clay, who has vast experience in public service and a strong interest in foreign studies, is undeterred. Learn everything there is to know about Clay Pell, a guy with a strange face but a familiar name.
| FULL NAME | Herbert Claiborne Pell IV |
| REAL NAME | Herbert Claiborne Pell IV |
| ALIAS / KNOWN AS | Clay Pell |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 17 November 1981 |
| BIRTH PLACE | Tucson, Arizona |
| ASTROLOGICAL SIGN | Scorpio |
| AGE | 39 |
| GENDER | Male |
| SEXUAL ORIENTATION | Straight |
| CURRENT RESIDENCE | Providence, Rhode Island |
| PARENTS | Herbert C. Pell III and Eugenia Stillman Diehl |
| GRANDPARENTS | Senator Claiborne Pell and Nuala Pell |
| EDUCATION | Harvard University and Georgetown University
Stanford Graduate School of Business |
| OCCUPATION | Attorney / U.S Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander |
| POLITICAL PARTY | Democratic Party |
| MARITAL STATUS | Divorced |
| CHILDREN | None |
| EX-SPOUSE | Michelle Kwan |
| RELIGION | Christian |
| LINKED IN PROFILE | https://www.linkedin.com/in/clay-pell-bb18484 |
| WEBSITE | http://www.claypell.com/ |
| INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT | https://www.instagram.com/claypell/ |
| TWITTER ACCOUNT | https://twitter.com/ClayPell |
| FACEBOOK ACCOUNT | https://www.facebook.com/claypell |
| TRIVIA | Clay Pell can speak English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and Arabic |
NET WORTH OF CLAY PELL
| ESTIMATED NET WORTH IN 2020 | $1 Million – $5 Million |
| PREVIOUS YEAR’S NET WORTH (2019) | $500,000 – $1 Million |
| ANNUAL INCOME | Approximately $500,000 to $1 Million |
| INCOME SOURCE | Being an Attorney and US Coast Guard Lieutenant / Stocks |
| HOW MUCH DOES CLAY PELL EARN AS COAST GUARD LIEUTENANT? | Approximately $110,000 |
WHERE DOES CLAY PELL GET HIS MONEY?
Lieutenant Clay Pell is a member of the United States Coast Guard. According to Glassdoor, a US Coast Guard Lieutenant may make up to $127,000. We may estimate Clay’s salary is in the high bracket of the range based on his years of experience and being at the top of his class.
He also holds a Juris Doctor degree, which is the highest legal degree in the United States. Clay Pell’s annual salary as a practicing attorney with a JD is estimated to be $150,000.
ASSETS OF CLAY PELL
Clay Pell was compelled to declare his assets when he campaigned for Governor of Rhode Island in 2014. He claimed to possess at least $5,000 worth of 83 stocks, totaling at least $415,000, including companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Family Dollar, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Philip Morris, among others, at the time.
Clay additionally described himself as a co-trustee of a life insurance trust named after his late father and a marital trust named after his parents.
When he married Michelle Kwan in 2013, they spent $1.5 million for a four-bedroom, 100-year-old style villa. Michelle Kwan obtained exclusive control of the property after their divorce and sold it for $3.99 million.
CLAY PELL, HOW OLD IS HE?
Clay Pell was born on November 17th, 1981. He is 38 years and 6 months old and was born under the astrological sign of Scorpio.
EDUCATION OF CLAY PELL
Clay Pell is no stranger to the classroom. In the year 2000, he received his high school diploma from The Thacher School. The Thacher School is a selective, independent residential school in Ojai, California, founded in 1889. It began as a boys’ school and is now California’s oldest co-ed residential school.
He attended the School Year Abroad schools in Zaragoza, Spain, in 1999, and Beijing, China, in 2001. The School Year Abroad, based in Massachusetts, offers year-long study abroad programs in Spain, Italy, France, and China for American high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
He went on to Harvard College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Social Studies with honors in 2005. Clay Pell then went on to Georgetown University Law Center, where he received his Juris Doctorate in 2008. In the United States, a Juris Doctor degree is the highest level of legal education.
Clay is presently a student at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he is listed as a current class of 2020 student at the time of writing.
FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND CLAY PELL
Clay Pell speaks four languages: English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and Arabic, as a result of his extensive worldwide education and experience.
Clay Pell was named Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of International and Foreign Language Education by the US Department of Education in 2013. This position lasted six months. He was profiled by Language Magazine, which dubbed him “the nation’s new language czar” when he was executing that function. Clay explained how he learnt all of these languages when asked how he did it, “I studied Spanish first in elementary school, then both Spanish and Chinese as an exchange student in high school. I began studying Arabic in college and have continued ever since.”
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION FOR CLAY PELL
Clay has been recognized for his support and activism for foreign language education and cultural competency. He received the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages’ Advocacy Award in 2014. Clay Pell’s grandpa, the late Senator Claiborne Pell of the United States, earned the same honor in 1988.
WHAT IS THE LOCATION OF CLAY PELL?
Cay Pell was born in Tucson, Arizona, but now makes his home in Rhode Island.
CLAIBORNE PELL AND CLAY PELL
Clay Pell is the grandson of Claiborne Pell, a former United States Senator from Rhode Island who served six terms between 1961 and 1997. He was a co-sponsor of the measure that overhauled the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant in 1972. This award gives financial help and money to college students in the United States.
As a result, the Senator’s name was given to the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island. Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island is the state’s longest-serving senator.
FAMILY, CHILDHOOD, AND INFLUENCE IN THE CLAY PELL FAMILY
Clay Pell was raised in a political environment. Senator Claiborne Pell (who served in the Senate from 1961 to 1997) and Nuala Pell, granddaughter of George Huntington Hartford, founder of the A&P supermarket company, were his grandparents.
Clay’s father, Herbert Claiborne Pell III, worked as a Vice President of the Valley National Bank and served in the United States Coast Guard.
Clay Pell was interviewed as a Gubernatorial candidate on The Rhode Show in 2014, when he stated that as a child, he saw what his grandpa could accomplish and realized how one could truly make a difference in people’s lives (being in politics).
CAREER OF CLAY PELL
Clay Pell was regarded as having a famous name but an unfamiliar face during his campaign for the 2014 Rhode Island gubernatorial elections. He may not have a lot of political experience, but he does have a lot of experience as a public worker.
Clay Pell joined the US Coast Guard in 2009 and was the first in his class to graduate. From 2009 to 2011, he served as a judge advocate on active duty, and he is now a lieutenant commander and judge advocate in the US Coast Guard Reserve.
Clay Pell worked as Director for Strategic Planning on the National Security Staff for the Obama Administration as a White House Fellow from 2011 to 2012.
In 2013, he received an Advocacy Award for his support of foreign language and cultural competency. He also spent six months as the Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Education’s Office of International and Foreign Language Education.
He ran for Governor of Rhode Island in 2014, but came in third out of five candidates.
CLAY PELL, RHODE ISLAND GOVERNORAL CANDIDATE FOR 2014
Clay Pell made a 25-minute speech in January 2014 to publicly declare his intention to run for Governor of Rhode Island as a Democrat.
Clay Pell states in his address, “I have the values, the skills and the experience to lead our state to a better future.”
On November 4th, 2014, the general election was held. Clay Pell came in third place (out of four candidates), with 26.9% of the vote. Gina Raimondo, who earned 42.1 percent of the vote in that election, was elected Governor of Rhode Island.
POLITIFACT CLAY PELL
The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, runs Politifact, a non-profit organization. It’s a fact-checking site with its own Truth-O-Meter, which allows users to judge the truth of assertions made by elected or running politicians and others.
According to Clay Pell’s Politifact account, two of the three comments he made in public were rated false. “Mostly True” and one was considered to be “Half-True”.
MARRIAGE OF CLAY PELL AND MICHELLE KWAN
Clay Pell married Michelle Kwan, a five-time World Champion and two-time Olympic medalist, in 2013. Many guests described them as “the ideal fit” at their wedding, which made headlines.
Their wedding, which was conducted at the First Unitarian Church in Providence, was attended by 250 people. The bride, who was 32 at the time, donned a Vera Wang gown, while Clay Pell was dressed in his full Coast Guard Lieutenant outfit.
Their union lasted four years.
WHAT BROUGHT CLAY PELL AND MICHELLE KWAN TOGETHER?
Michelle Kwan and Clay Pell first met in April of 2011. They were both attending a job interview for the same position, according to Clay Pell. According to Michelle Kwan of the Daily Mail, “I never was one who believed in love at first sight, but I have to admit it happened for us. I felt there was a magnetic connection between us. I thought he was the one from the beginning.”
A year and five months after their first meeting, they were engaged. On Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island, Clay Pell suggested. He declares, “It was amazing from the beginning how in sync our way of thinking is, our basic values and sense of priorities.”
Both of them are interested in politics and are involved in it. Following her retirement from figure skating, Michelle Kwan entered politics. She worked for Hilary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016. In addition to his failed candidacy for Governor of Rhode Island, Clay Pell served on the Obama White House national security staff as director of strategic planning.
DIVORCE BETWEEN CLAY PELL AND MICHELLE KWAN
Clay Pell filed for divorce from Michelle Kwan in March 2017, four years after they married, claiming irreconcilable differences as the cause.
Michelle Kwan claims she was unaware of Clay’s divorce file until she received a tweet.
According to Michelle, the couple began talking about divorce in November of 2016 and have been living in separate residences since then.
Official statement from Clay Pell on their divorce: “It is with deep regret that I share that Michelle and my marriage is coming to an end. This is a sad and difficult turn of events for our family. I love Michelle and wish her the very best as her life takes her in a new direction.”