Clinton Bench's passion for transportation began in childhood, collecting road maps and studying travel patterns. This early interest led him to earn a B.S. in Civil Engineering from MIT and an M.S. from UMass.

He started his career as a Service Planner for the MBTA before managing transit service planning for the Boston MPO. In 2008, he was appointed Deputy Director of Planning for MassDOT, overseeing programming for the state's $1 billion annual capital program and chairing Massachusetts’ 13 MPOs.

Since 2015, Clinton has served as UCLA's Director of Fleet & Transit, overseeing procurement, operations, and maintenance of the university’s 1,150-vehicle fleet, including the BruinBus public transit system. Under his leadership, UCLA Transportation has launched an ambitious sustainability initiative, creating the most diverse fleet of electric vehicles of any university fleet in North America.