Education History:
Connection to ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ: ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University Alumnus
In 2006, Clayton was invited to the College of Business as the ExxonMobil Executive in Residence Speaker. That same year, he joined the ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University Alumni Advisory Board where he has served a term as President, and a term as Chairman of the Distinguished Alumni Award selection committee. He is a past Chairman of both the College of Business Board of Advisors and past chair of the College of Business Hall of Fame Selection Committee. He is currently serving on the ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University Foundation Board and on the Foundation’s Development Committee.
Clayton’s wife of 49 years, Georgia, is also a ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ graduate. They support ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ through several venues, including funding of Fellowships and a President’s Associates Fund. They are members of the Mirabeau Society and a charter member of the President’s Circle.
Affiliations: Clayton began his career with Behring’s Bearing Service, Inc. as a sales trainee in the Beaumont branch of the Houston-based company. In August 1974, he was promoted to branch manager and transferred to the Baytown branch to oversee the Exxon and United States Steel contracts. In 1978, Clayton joined Bearing Chain and Supply, a Dallas-based regional distributor and started working closely with the rotating equipment industry along the upper Texas Gulf Coast.
In 1986, he joined Kreiter Geartech, a regional manufacturer of specialty gears and gearboxes for industrial applications. Clayton was later named Sales and Marketing Manager for the company. In 1991, he joined Prager Gear, a New Orleans company as the regional manager for Texas.
After several ownership changes at Prager, he joined Houston Dynamic Service, Inc., an Allis-Chalmers subsidiary in 1999. In 2000, Clayton was named General Manager and, in December 2001, he purchased the company from Allis Chalmers and is still majority owner and President to date.
Houston Dynamic Services continues to serve a wide breadth of industry, specializing in the repair of pumps, steam turbines, compressors and gearboxes. In 2008, Clayton’s son, Luther “Luke” Clayton Lau, IV, joined him in the business. Houston Dynamic Service, Inc. is one of the largest independent rotating equipment repair companies in the greater Southeast Texas region.