Until 2005, Clarence V. McKee was Chairman, CEO and President of McKee Communications, Inc. and McKee Acquisitions Corp., formed for the purpose of acquiring radio, television and cable properties, and its subsidiary Communications, Consulting & Marketing, Inc., which consults, advises and assists businesses in public, community and media relations.
McKee is now a consultant with the law firm Ruden McClosky, to expand the firm's services in the areas of lobbying, and government, community and media relations for the firm's clients.
After passing the bar exam in New York, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, McKee went on to be appointed Deputy Chief of the Industry Equal Employment Opportunity Unit in the General Counsel's office of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In 1980, he was the Team Leader of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board Transition team, with oversight over the nation's savings and loan associations, in the Office of the President-Elect. He was later promoted by President Ronald Reagan to the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation which funds legal service programs for the poor, where he served as the Board's Vice Chairman and Chairman of its Special Committee on Grants and Contracts.
In 1984, McKee was Chairman of the District of Columbia State Delegation to the Republican National Convention and a Member of the Convention Rules Committee. Immediately prior to moving to Tampa, he was the Washington Counsel and Registered Foreign Agent for the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) where he advised its President, Dr. Jonas Savimbi, and UNITA on a variety of political and legal matters.
McKee moved to Tampa in 1987, as chairman, Chief Executive Officer and majority shareholder of WTVT, Inc., licensee of WTVT – Channel 13, the then CBS affiliate in Tampa, Florida. Under McKee's five-year leadership, WTVT became the dominant station in news, information and community affairs in the nation's 13th largest television market with a special emphasis on youth, education, crime and the elderly. He established the still existing “Channel 13 Foundation” which provides scholarships to Bay area students to attend Florida colleges and universities.
Outside of work, McKee is involved in numerous local and statewide activities. He was Co-Chairman of the 150 member Hillsborough County Middle Schools configuration, served on the Boards of the Florida Progress Corporation and its subsidiary, the Florida Power Corporation, American Heritage Life Insurance Company, and Barnett Banks, Inc. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Tampa, where he served as Chairman of the Student Affairs Committee. McKee has been awarded the “Outstanding Alumni Public Service Award” from Hobart College, the “American Jurisprudence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Constitutional Law,” and the “John Mercer Langston Award for Outstanding Achievement in Law and Public Service” from the Howard University School of Law. He has made appearances on national media and his articles have been published in The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Human Events Magazine, The Tampa Tribune, Electronic Media and on ProfileAfrica.com.
He is married to television anchor/reporter Trina Robinson and resides in Miramar, Fla.
Contribution: Former Chairman/CEO of McKee Communications, Former Finance Chairman for President Ronald Regan
Hometown: Buffalo, N.Y.
College Activities: Freshman Class President, President of Northern Student Movement, a Board of Control Representative, WEOS, Little Theatre, Interfraternity Council, Football, Lacrosse, R.O.T.C.
Major: Sociology
Other Education: Howard University, Washington, D.C. (J.D., '72)