Carlton L. Highsmith is the Retired Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer of Specialized Packaging Group, Inc.
Highsmith employed over 600 at design centers and manufacturing facilities in Toronto, Chicago, Cincinnati, Kansas City and 7 other cities across North America. In 2009 Carlton’s company was recognized as the largest minority-owned firm in the State of Connecticut.
In 2009, Highsmith merged his company with PaperWorks Industries, a portfolio company of Sun Capital Partners to form SPG PaperWorks Inc, the third-largest vertically integrated recycled paperboard packaging company in North America. Carlton served as Vice Chairman of the board of the merged company until his retirement in March 2010.
Carlton’s other affiliations include: Vice-Chairman of the board of trustees of Quinnipiac University, where he is a member of the Executive and Personnel Committees; Yale New Haven Hospital Health System board of trustees.