Clarence Otis Jr. worked through law, finance and restaurant operations on his way to leading a restaurant company. Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1956, he grew up in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. He attended Williams College on a scholarship, graduating in 1977 with studies in economics and political science, and earned his law degree at Stanford in 1980. *Contemporary Black Biography* places his later appointment among the relatively few African American Fortune 500 chief executives of that period.
Otis started in New York corporate law, working on securities and business transactions. After four years, he moved into financial services, including municipal finance, the business of funding public-sector activity. Before joining Darden Restaurants, he led the municipal securities group at Chemical Securities.
Darden recruited him as treasurer in 1995. He became chief financial officer, then president of its Smokey Bones restaurant brand: finance leadership first, then responsibility for an operating business. In 2004, he became Darden's chief executive, adding the chairmanship the following year, and held both positions through 2014 at the company known for brands including Olive Garden.
His civic work centers on the arts. Jazz at Lincoln Center announced his election as its next board chair in June 2020, with the appointment effective that September. He had joined the board in 2012 and served as treasurer and finance-committee chair. The announcement described a role working with fellow directors and artistic leader Wynton Marsalis on strategy, policy and fundraising. It also recognized Otis and his wife, Jacqueline Bradley, as collectors of African American and African Diaspora art.
