Cliffe Rice has worked in the educational publishing business for the past 33 years.  After graduating from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida with a B.A. in English in 1973, Cliffe worked for the Environmental Design Group out of Orlando Florida as a technical research writer.  In 1974 and 1975 he pursued graduate studies at Georgia State University, in Atlanta, while working as a college representative at Georgia Tech for Fidelity Life Insurance Company.  Starting in 1976, and for the next six years he worked as a representative for McGraw Hill Films and Prentice Hall Media where he focused on implementing multimedia curriculum into educational programs designed to serve the career transition needs of special populations.

In 1982 Cliffe founded Piney Mountain Press, and with the collaboration of numerous outstanding special educators, launched the company’s first publication, the Skills Assessment Module (SAM).  This program assesses affective, motor, perceptual, and cognitive abilities of special students in relation to training and job requirements. 

Piney Mountain Press now offers over 200 products that address the assessment, career development and applied learning needs of special population’s individuals.  All these products originated from exemplary programs designed by practicing Special Educators.  They are used worldwide in an array of facilities serving special populations including: Vocational Rehabilitation, Goodwill, Easter Seals, School to Work, Special Needs, Tech Prep, Occupational Therapy, Sheltered Workshops, Job Corps, Rural Opportunities, Jewish Vocational Services, Juvenile Justice and Center for Dropout Prevention. Also, many universities throughout the country use Piney Mountain Press programs in their teacher education programs.

Over the years, Cliffe has funded numerous student scholarships for special populations and has received numerous awards including the National Outside Service Provider Award for the Special Population Division of the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE).

Cliffe is, was, and always will be an advocate for Special Populations educators who have dedicated their lives to the advancement of special students in a career transition context.  He currently gives presentations at state and national conferences on how to provide research based assessment and documentation to support the IDEA Career Transition I.E.P. requirements.