About
The High Touch Difference.
Proximity paired
with Responsibility.
Our work is carried out with decision-makers, close to where direction is set and commitments are made. That proximity carries obligation - not only to influence how decisions are shaped, but to remain accountable for how they are carried out across organizations and moments of change.
Areas of
Expertise.
Whether shaping an engagement strategy from the ground up or navigating circumstances already in motion, the work centers on execution - who is engaged, in what sequence, and with what discipline, so decisions move forward deliberately rather than by default.
We design and sequence your engagement across leaders, partners, and decision makers so alignment is built deliberately - never assumed.
We translate direction into sustained action - bridging strategy, operations, and accountability across complex organizations.
Diverse stakeholders require that every message is delivered so that nothing is lost in translation. We work with clients to ensure intent is always carried forward intact.
Bringing together the right actors at the right moment. Applying diplomacy and protocol to establish trust and ensure that decisions are celebrated across cultures and institutions.
Built for What's Next.
After operating at the intersection of diplomacy, business, and public leadership, it became clear to Clay Doherty in 2016 that something was missing.
Not strategy. Not authority. But a form of leadership capable of moving institutions and interests with continuity, sound judgment, and consequence, especially when the path forward was not obvious and the cost of missteps was real.
That understanding emerged from experience, not theory. From moments where progress depended less on position than on how one engaged.
High Touch Engagement was founded to carry that work forward - designing solutions around the realities senior leaders face today, anywhere in the world. Now, ten years on, High Touch Engagement continues to operate in that space - advising leaders and institutions when conventional rules fall short, and when engagement itself becomes the decisive variable in need of a definition.
meet OUR founder
Clay Doherty
Clay Doherty operates alongside senior leaders in environments defined by complexity, competing interests, and sustained scrutiny. His experience spans public service, corporate engagement, and global advisory work, where relationships, timing, and credibility often determine whether initiatives advance or stall. He is known for working at the level where leadership intent must move across institutions and audiences without distortion, preserving continuity from commitment through execution.
The philosophy underlying High Touch Engagement predates the firm itself. It reflects a belief that durable progress depends on human connection, clarity of purpose, and disciplined follow-through - particularly in moments where trust is limited and stakes are measured in long-term consequence. Clay’s work is less about providing external advice than about ensuring alignment holds across people, systems, and time.
Today, Clay continues to advise leaders and organizations operating across sectors and borders, applying High Touch Engagement as both a professional practice and a standard for how consequential work is carried. His focus remains consistent: aligning relationships, strategy, and execution so that decisions translate cleanly into results that endure.
