One of the founding partners of Parthenon Publishing, Carlton brings to the company a rare combination of production and creative management expertise, along with a business mindset. As vice president and COO of the company, he oversees operations and print production, ensuring that projects come in on time, on budget and at the highest possible quality.

Carlton, who studied business administration at the University of Tennessee, has more than 20 years of creative and production management experience. He spent six years as head of production at Capitol Records Nashville, where he directed creation of all visual materials from photo session through design to printing. He oversaw the production of integrated marketing campaigns for such artists as Garth Brooks, Keith Urban and Dierks Bentley.

Before that, he managed Team Design Inc., a Nashville design firm that specialized in music industry clients.