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of the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce.
Here, Carlton was very involved
with chairing inner-city visits. “We would
look at cities of like size that were a couple
of steps ahead of us,” he explains. “We met
with their legislators, city government and
educators to try and understand how they
made it happen. Then we’d bring that back
to our community, and instituted it.” The
Greater Rome Chamber was successful
in bringing in Lowe’s Distribution Center
(with 600 new jobs) this year, as well as
Suzuki of North America, Pirelli and other
national corporate locations.
Carlton began his hospital administration career
in 1996 at Harbin Clinic in Rome, a 160-
physician multi-specialty physician group.
“I had an opportunity to pursue my MBA
and move into an administrative role with
Harbin Clinic,” he says. In 2001, he moved
to New Orleans and worked at the Tulane
University Hospital and Clinic, where he
managed service lines, overseeing the transplant,
cardiology, oncology, rehabilitation
and orthopedic divisions. While in New
Orleans he was active in
Rotary. He was also an
active Rotarian in Rome,
where he held various
board positions for many
years. Later, he had an
opportunity to step into
his first Chief Operation
Officer role at Parkridge
Medical Center in Chattanooga,
TN.
Carlton loves sports,
and watches everything.
“We have a ‘house divided’ with college
football,” he jokes. “My wife, daughter and
I are Georgia fans. Logan is a Georgia Tech
fan, and Dawson roots for Alabama.” In the
nineties, he managed health clubs in Atlanta,
and during the 1996 Summer Olympics
in Atlanta was involved in playing host to
the Japanese judo team, French track team,
and Dutch and American handball teams.
In 1996, he ran his first marathon, and in
2000 did his first Gulf Coast Triathlon in
Panama City, followed by two more Ironman
Florida races in 2004 and 2010. He
also completed Ironman Louisville twice
and Ironman Lake Placid once. “I like the
cross training between swimming, running
and cycling,” he says. “I grew up a swimmer,
but stopped at 14 to play tennis full
time.” He went on to play tennis in college,
taught tennis and became a certified teaching
pro. “If this healthcare thing doesn’t
work out, I’ll go back to hitting balls on the
tennis court!” he laughs.
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