Jarrett Clem studied business, agriculture, and construction at Parkland College. After obtaining an associate degree he went on to study at Eastern Illinois University where he later graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Development, which focuses on operating organizations and growing them, specifically nonprofits and training programs. In addition to the education obtained at the collegiate level, he has also completed an IBEW electrical apprenticeship, thus becoming a Journeyman Electrician.
Clem sits on many boards in the community ranging from ones with billions in assets to smaller community-based organizations with a mission of change. He sits on two large retirement boards on the investment committee, a health insurance board covering over 27,000 participants where he is in a leadership position, is chairman of the Champaign-Urbana Joint Electrical Apprenticeship Committee, Vice-President of the East Central Illinois Construction and Building Trades, and has been on the Champaign County Workforce Innovation Board for four years working with business, labor, and the community to provide skilled work-people where needed.
He is dedicated to best practices and the future of the organizations he sits on. Parkland Community College has been a guiding light for the community for many years and Jarrett is committed to help maintain as well as improve the college for years to come. Many of the different committees Jarrett has been on have benefited by modernizing the structure and goals of the organization. Being younger than other board members gives him perspective of a long and vibrant future for years to come. When looking at the goals of the board they need to be focused on the present while looking long into the future as well.
It is important to him to raise his family in Champaign County much like he was raised. He lives on his family farm with his wife, daughter, and son. Jarrett’s wife is a rural veterinarian working on both small and large animals. They raise livestock and hay on the family farm, and he works with his father, uncle, and brother to produce row crops and livestock. He is a third generation Champaign County farmer where his children will show livestock just like the generations of Clems before him. Spending time with family and friends at the local county fair while showing the livestock produced on the farm has always been important to him.
In addition to board roles and farming, Clem is an electrician, and is currently the Business Manager for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 601. He completed a five-year electrical apprenticeship and became a Journeyman Electrician where he worked on a variety of construction projects across central Illinois. From larger projects like the Lasalle nuclear generating plant to many buildings on the University of Illinois campus, he has a variety of electrical experience. He has worked in the Local 601 office for seven years and has been the Business Manager for five years.