Trustee
Clifton E. Haley, ‘61
Elected 5/6/97
Trustee Haley currently serves as President of Michigan State University College of Law, a position he has held since 2001. A 1961 Detroit College of Law graduate, President Haley has taken an innovative approach to increasing the academic standards and enrollment at the law school. He has served on the board’s executive, development, and finance committees and is a director of the Law School Foundation Board.
Mr. Haley is the former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Budget Rent-a-Car Corporation. He led management in a leveraged buyout of Budget in 1986; completed a successful Initial Public Offer in 1987; and, in a $1.8-billion transaction, took the company private in 1988. Haley worked for Ford Motor Company from 1960 to 1977, where he held a variety of domestic and international management positions.
Currently, Mr. Haley is president and owner of the Drummond Island Resort and Conference Center on Drummond Island, located at the eastern-most point of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
In recent years, President Haley has used his business expertise to teach graduate-level business and law courses. As an MSU Law adjunct faculty member, Haley teaches Mergers and Acquisitions. He has been an adjunct professor in the Master of Business Administration programs at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and the University of South Carolina, lecturing on strategy, corporate finance, and the role of a CEO.
In addition to his Juris Doctor degree, Haley received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from MSU College of Law in 1993. In spring 2003, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in interdisciplinary humanities from the MSU College of Arts and Letters.
Mr. Haley is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and the American Bar Association. He is an advisor to Altus Capital, a New York investment banking firm, and is a member of the boards of directors of Continental Structural Plastics and the DeTour Reef Light Preservation Society.