Clark G. Fiester was born on January 25, 1934. He was educated at Pennsylvania State University (B.S.) and Stanford University (M.S.). He also later studied at the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. In 1957, Fiester joined GTE Government Systems Corp. (which would be acquired by General Dynamics in 1999), a company that designed and developed information security, electro-optics, and automated airport weather stations. Fiester was associated with GTE Government Systems Corp. for his entire career, eventually becoming a group vice president and general manager.