Pictured above is Dane Clark, center, with ODOT Leaders Melissa Taylor, ODOT Regional Manager, Southwest & Southern Ohio Division of Jobs and Commerce, and Lloyd MacAdam, ODOT Assistant Director, following a recent meeting on the State Route 73 project. (Provided photo)

By Patricia Beech-

On Dec. 31, 2018, after 33 years of service, Dane Clark worked his last day as a General Electric employee.
A go-getter who brought over $250 million in projects to GE during his career, Clark admits he felt some hesitation about retiring.
He says you can plan for it, dream about it, try to visualize it, but there’s no way to know for sure what retirement will be like until after you’ve actually left the job.
“At midnight on the 31st, I told my wife, ‘This is the first time I’ve ever been jobless’,” he says. “It’s easy to talk about retirement, but when it comes right down to it, it’s difficult to give up something you’ve done every day for years.”
During his years working for the iconic American company, Clark managed facility/maintenance, security, and shipping and receiving. He also served as a special projects leader, and upheld GE policy as the company’s Compliance and Integrity Leader at the Peebles site.
Additionally, Clark is Six Sigma, Green Belt Certified and has worked several projects that improved GE’s logistic processes. Highlights from his career include a Fuel Farm expansion, renovation of site buildings, and the design and construction of two indoor test sites.
He also worked with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and Adams County government officials to bring about improvements to State Route 73 and Jaybird Road, and more recently, the widening of State Route 73 to accommodate GE’s new larger jet engines.
Clark has been the leader for GE HealthAhead – a program aimed at helping GE employees and their families around the world to live and work healthier. Peebles was one of the inaugural sites to receive HealthAhead Global Certification and recognition from the GE Chairman and CEO.
He finished up his career as a project consultant for the construction of the Celma Test Site in Brazil, South America. This test site is a first for the Celma plant and will create needed expansion for GE Aviation engine testing in Brazil.
Clark says it was an enormous treat to be a part of aviation history.
“I was there through the growth of aviation – from the big GE 90 jet engine in the 1980’s to the GE 9X that will be certified in 2020,” he says. “Working there every day, you felt like you were a part of something bigger than yourself, you could sense how important it was to the growth of aviation as a global market.”
Clark was also engaged in taking the Peebles Facility into the community by supporting local non-profit organizations, school projects, health and wellness activities, and building partnerships with other county leaders.
Community service is something he is definitely interested in pursuing. Clark told the Defender on Sunday he has applied to be considered for the Adams County Commissioner’s seat vacated by Brian Baldridge who was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in Nov. 2018.
Clark says the timing seemed right to begin a new chapter.
“Some of my duties at the Peebles site involved acting as a liaison or the focal point of government and community relations, so I’ve got to meet a lot of folks in local and state government, and formed a large network of people,” he says. “I never thought about running for office before, but with Representative Baldridge going on to serve in Columbus, I told my wife that I’d love to apply for the Commissioner’s job because I think I can bring something useful to the table.”
Clark began his career with the Kentucky State Police while attending Morehead State University to earn a degree in Industrial Technology. He spent five years as a buyer for Goodyear Atomic Corporation and worked 33 years at GE Aviation at both their Evendale and Peebles, Ohio, locations.
He is married to Liz Lafferty, has three children and five grandchildren. He is an active West Union High School Athletic Boosters member, Leadership Adams alumni, and Vice-Chairman of the Adams County Regional Medical Center Board of Directors.
The owner of Southern Ohio Dry Stone, Clark is also a certified dry stone mason, and is looking forward to building stone fences and pillars in both local and surrounding communities.

Pictured above is Dane Clark, center, with ODOT Leaders Melissa Taylor, ODOT Regional Manager, Southwest & Southern Ohio Division of Jobs and Commerce, and Lloyd MacAdam, ODOT Assistant Director, following a recent meeting on the State Route 73 project. (Provided photo)