In the days immediately following 9/11, Valero Energy needed to pay its convenience store employees at more than 2,000 locations across the U.S.
The problem was, the checks were generated in San Antonio, and all flights were grounded for national security reasons.
Shelayne Clemmer, then a non-lawyer working as director of supply-chain technology and financial services for Valero, found a swift, effective solution.
“I helped develop a solution where we partnered with our money-order vendor and printed the employees’ ‘paychecks’ on money orders located at each store,” she told The Texas Lawbook.
Nearly seven years later to the day as a newly minted lawyer, Clemmer told the story to the general counsel at the financial services portfolio firm Harland Clarke Holdings.
“My ability to think outside the box and create a business solution got me the job at Harland Clarke,” she said.
To those paying attention, it was also an extraordinary example of Clemmer doing great work to accomplish good for the hard-working employees who need the money they earn.
Fast-forward another 18 years, and Clemmer is an established leader in the San Antonio corporate legal community. For the past eight years, she has been at Vericast, which was Harland Clarke before it rebranded in 2020.
Clemmer’s “whole approach” to her work and interactions with others differentiates Clemmer from other corporate legal department leaders, according to Denise LaLoge, Vericast’s operations controller and senior vice president.
“Shelayne is thorough, caring, listening, respectful, professional in every interaction, whether in person, in a video meeting or in writing,” LaLoge said. “She engages you to ensure the best information is considered and equally shares her insights and knowledge with others. You never have to wonder if Shelayne has an individual or the company’s best interest in mind. She is a true partner to work with and always gives her audience more to reflect on than when they started.”
“Shelayne has such a diverse background in her work and education that enables her to be responsive to a wide variety of inquiries, issues and strategies,” LaLoge said. “We must always consider alternatives and even opposing solutions to know that we have landed on the best possible resolution. Shelayne is very open to listening to various positions. People know that about her, so they are quick to share opinions and experiences that will help ensure a thorough review.”
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s San Antonio Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are honored to present Clemmer with the prestigious 2026 Lee Cusenbary Ethical Life & Leadership Award. The Lee Cusenbary Award is presented to one in-house lawyer or legal department and one private lawyer or law firm that exemplify exceptional ethical behavior in the practice of law. This award has been a proud chapter tradition since 2008.
Last year’s award recipients were Whataburger Restaurants Chief Legal Officer Elena Kraus and Norton Rose Fulbright partner Steven Jansma.
ACC San Antonio President Orlesia Tucker and its past president, Jeffrey Hagelman, said Clemmer has been a force within the organization for the past decade, including providing important leadership for the annual and highly acclaimed Ethics Follies program, leading the annual fundraising golf tournament and participating annually in ACC’s student mentorship initiative.
“Shelayne is the kind of volunteer every organization hopes to have,” Tucker and Hagelman wrote in support of Clemmer’s nomination. “ACC San Antonio is a stronger organization because of her leadership and years of dedicated service.”
The Cusenbary Awards will be presented Oct. 29 at the 2026 San Antonio Corporate Counsel Awards.
“Shelayne is the rare person whose commitment to doing the right thing is evident in every setting in which she serves — at work, in the community, and in her personal life,” wrote Fennemore Craig directors Christine Reinhard and Shannon Schmoyer, who nominated Clemmer for the award. “Her ethics are not situational, aspirational, or reserved for difficult moments. They are a constant part of how she leads, how she makes decisions, how she treats others and how she gives of herself.”
“Ethical leadership often requires more than simply complying with rules or meeting expectations,” Reinhard and Schmoyer wrote in the nomination. “It requires the willingness to pause, ask difficult questions and consider whether the path forward is fair, responsible, and right. Shelayne does exactly that. She is not afraid to speak up or question, even when doing so may be uncomfortable or inconvenient. She approaches those moments with respect and professionalism, not judgment. Her focus remains on ensuring that decisions reflect integrity, accountability and concern for the people affected.”
Marci Kawski, a partner at Husch Blackwell, has worked with Clemmer for several years and said she always has excellent judgment.
“She is an excellent issue spotter who can quickly identify what matters and help move conversations toward solutions,” Kawski said. “She brings a calm, thoughtful approach to her work that makes people trust her advice. What differentiates Shelayne is that integrity is woven into how she operates rather than something she demonstrates only when circumstances require it. She treats people with respect and approaches decisions thoughtfully and fairly.”
“In a profession that can sometimes reward the loudest voice, Shelayne earns respect through good judgment, consistency and trustworthiness,” she said.
Dykema member Jeffrey Gifford said Clemmer “is fearless, with a ‘we will succeed’ attitude.”
“Her courage and ability to lead and lift a team together, where everyone feels welcome and a part of the success, is one of her most impressive attributes,” Gifford said, adding that Clemmer is a talented karaoke singer.
West Texas Roots and Lessons in Integrity
The base and depth of her ethics, according to Clemmer, can be found deep in her roots.
A native Texan and the baby of five children, Clemmer spent her childhood years in San Angelo. Her parents were older and grew up in the Great Depression.
“My family grew up attending church at every opportunity, and we learned about love, respect, helping others and doing what is right, even if no one else is,” she said. “My parents never locked the house, and my father always left his car keys on the floor of the unlocked car. I remember, on several occasions, my parents stopping on the side of the road to help someone whose car had broken down.”
“Many times, we’d pick up the stranger, then let the person take our car to drive until they got their car fixed,” she said. “I never thought anything about it because I thought everyone did that. I was a little naïve about how good people were but I think it helped me develop my own sense of giving others the benefit of the doubt and assuming good intentions.”
Clemmer’s father owned an RC Cola bottling business that, at its peak, spanned 75 counties in Texas. Her mother was the accountant for the business as well as the manager of their home.
All of the family worked in the business at times.
“Watching my parents work so hard and put everything into the business taught me from an early age about the importance of hard work and sacrifice,” she said. “I also learned about integrity from my parents — whether it was refusing to use cheaper ingredients during the sugar crisis of 1974, or making certain each employee was paid fairly, or watching my father give second chances to people who had a past or were down on their luck.”
“Sometimes the people took advantage of the opportunity and sometimes they took advantage of my father,” she said. “But, through it all, I learned what integrity looks like.”
An Unconventional Path to Law
Growing up, Clemmer wanted to be an architect because her mother was talented at designing houses.
During her first year of college at Texas A&M University, however, her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Clemmer returned home to be with her mom during her illness.
“When she passed, it really took away my motivation,” she said.
Clemmer enrolled at nearby Angelo State University and changed her academic focus to accounting and computer science.
For a decade after college, she worked at a computer software startup — hired as a consultant and ended up being the second-in-charge.
While she enjoyed the job and had a great mentor, she said she “wanted to do more” but needed a professional degree.
In April 2001, Clemmer went to work at Valero in financial services and supply-chain technology.
While she had a cousin who was a lawyer working for then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, she still was not convinced a law degree was worth it.
That changed when a fellow senior employee at Valero resigned to go to law school. She still remembers their conversation.
“Wow, that’s great,” Clemmer said. “I always wanted to go to law school.”
“Well, Shelayne, you’re not getting any younger,” the colleague responded.
“Truer words have not been spoken. I was not getting younger,” Clemmer said.
A year later, she resigned to attend St. Mary’s University School of Law.
“As a nontraditional law student, I decided I was going to do everything I could to be successful — attend class, study hard, get involved in everything I could,” she said.
For example, Clemmer won the 1L moot court competition with a partner; was voted best speaker and best brief; served as a staff writer for law review and later executive editor; and interned for Judge Emilio Garza at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
After graduating in 2007, she became the briefing attorney for Chief Justice Alma Lopez of the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals. As Clemmer finished up her time with Chief Justice Lopez in 2008, her law school classmate, friend and fellow 2026 San Antonio Corporate Counsel Award recipient, Brenna Nava, told her about an in-house counsel position at Harland Clarke.
Private Practice and Corporate Challenges
In 2011, Clemmer joined Prichard Hawkins & Young as a litigator with an appellate focus. The father of one of the firm’s named partners, Kevin Young, once worked for Clemmer’s dad at RC Cola.
“I learned a lot about lawyerly integrity — and the lack thereof — at that job,” she said.
Clemmer recalls a case where opposing counsel constantly misrepresented things to the court. On the way to a hearing in the case, she asked firm partner David Prichard how he handled attorneys who weren’t forthright.
“It was driving me crazy,” she said. “He told me that unless it was something that would immediately harm the client, he trusted the judge to figure out who was telling the truth. Ironically, during that very hearing, the opposing counsel claimed he had filed or submitted something at a particular time when he hadn’t. The judge let him double down on his claim, then she very calmly pointed to evidence that showed he was not telling the truth.”
“It was a great lesson in integrity and showed that people know who has integrity and who doesn’t, even if they don’t say anything about it,” she said.
In 2016, Clemmer joined a cybersecurity company where she learned “even more about integrity there, but from the other side.”
“I remember one of the owners coaching me on some contract terms and saying, ‘Say it with diamonds, say it with mink, but never ever say it in ink.’ That was their approach to every business interaction. Never make a commitment, never leave a paper trail, always have an escape route,” she said. “That job tested my mettle to do the right thing and stand up to people who weren’t doing it.”
Clemmer said she “was so happy” to return to Harland Clarke as chief counsel and chief compliance officer in 2018.
“And the rest is history, as they say,” she said.
Click here for a Premium Subscriber Q&A with Clemmer, where she shares her biggest professional successes at Vericast.
Fun Facts
Favorite book: Hans Brinker. It really impacted me as a youngster, learning that kids could be both cruel and compassionate to the same person and that a child who had nothing was willing to sacrifice everything he had to help someone else.
Favorite music group: Eagles. It is the music of my youth, and I still love their music today.
Favorite movie: Overboard (the first one from 1987). It’s silly and has great one-liners, the horrible husband gets his just deserts, the spoiled socialite gets a heart, the kids get their hearts’ desires, and they all become a family in a happy ending.
Favorite restaurant: Bliss — yes, please. Anything from the chef’s table experience is excellent!
Favorite beverage: Anything with carbonation. I love fizz!
Vacation: Italy 2023 with a group of friends — three weeks starting in Venice, traveling throughout Italy, south to Sorrento and Capri.
Hero in life: My mother is definitely my hero. She grew up poor, but she was rich in life. Well before women’s liberation, mother was a renaissance woman. She excelled at math and science and English. She was great at all sorts of sports — tennis, pole vaulting and on a state championship basketball team. … She was extremely creative — painting, drawing, designing houses, sewing, cake decorating, etc. She died of cancer when she was only 60. I didn’t realize at the time how very young she was. But I do remember that hundreds of people attended her funeral, and people I barely knew would tell me how much she had meant to them and she had helped them in some way. She touched so many people’s lives but did it in a very quiet, behind-the-scenes manner.