She is also principal owner and corporate vice president of Productivity-Quality Systems, a major international process and quality management firm specializing in theory, process, and tools of quality improvement. She holds MA and PhD degrees in English from the University of Nebraska. Cleary served on the Board of Education in Centerville, Ohio for 8 years, 3 of those as president. She is also the co-author of Thinking Tools for Kids: An Activity Book for Classroom Learning (ASQ Quality Press, 2008.) as well as Orchestrating Learning with Quality (ASQ Quality Press 1995) and Tools and Techniques to Inspire Classroom Learning (ASQ Quality Press, 1997).