Carlton L. Highsmith

Carlton L. Highsmith founded Specialized Packaging Group, a package design, marketing and engineering firm in New Haven in 1983. By 2009, SPG, with revenues of more than $180 million, had grown to become one of the largest manufacturers of consumer paperboard packaging in North America. The company was recognized as the largest minority-owned company in Connecticut. Highsmith currently serves on the board of directors of Key Bank and chairs the board of directors of the Connecticut Center for Arts & Technology (CONNCAT), a nonprofit organization that provides world-class, market relevant job training and financial literacy training to underemployed and unemployed adults in the New Haven area. He earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and was awarded an honorary degree from Quinnipiac in 2008.