Ronald Francis Clements (April 25, 1953 – ) is an American writer and director from Sioux City, Iowa. In his early adult years, Clements moved out to Hollywood and began his career as an animator for Hanna-Barbera. During those few months, he was accepted by Disney's Talent Development Program to further his training in animation. After two years of taking workshops with Disney Legend Frank Thomas, Clements was assigned as a character animator for The Rescuers and Pete's Dragon (both in 1977).

In 1981, success continued for Clements when he became a supervising animator for Disney's next film, The Fox and the Hound (1983), followed by teaming up with future directing partner John Musker as a story artist for The Black Cauldron (1985). Within those years, Clements started working on ideas for an animated film about Sherlock Holmes, but with mice in the lead roles. First titled "Basil of Baker Street," the same name as the book series by Eve Titus, this was Clements' directorial debut, along with Musker, Burny Mattinson, and Dave Michener. By 1986, the film was near completion with the title changed to a more generic one: The Great Mouse Detective. Despite the alteration, the film received more positive reviews than its predecessor, The Black Cauldron, proving that the studio was moving in the right direction.

After Oliver and Company was released in 1988, Clements and Musker worked steadily on their next big project. Based on the famous story by Hans Christian Anderson, The Little Mermaid opened in theaters in the fall of 1989, launching the start of the Disney Renaissance period. Alan Menken and Howard Ashman were brought on board to provide Oscar-winning songs and a haunting score. Clements and Musker returned to directing in 1992 with their next popular animated feature, Aladdin, followed by a lesser success of Hercules in 1997.

The last two films Clements and Musker directed were Treasure Planet (2002) and The Princess and the Frog (2009), the latter returning to traditional animation since Home on the Range (2004). As of now, the two are working on a new animated film titled Moana, due out in 2018.