Carlton Ford | Managing Partner & CEO
Carlton Ford (he/him) co-leads the firm’s mission to strengthen leadership, governance, and organizational resilience across the arts and culture sector. He previously served as Managing Director and co-owner of Diaz Inclusion Consulting. With more than 15 years of experience spanning executive leadership, philanthropy, strategy, and the performing arts, Carlton brings a systems-level perspective grounded in clarity and long-term civic value.
Carlton works closely with boards, executives, and senior teams to guide leadership transitions, build governance capacity, and design future-ready organizations. His work focuses on aligning leadership with strategy, culture, and community context to help institutions move beyond short-term fixes toward durable models of relevance, trust, and impact. He is particularly known for his ability to surface hard truths with care and to translate complexity into actionable decisions.
Over the course of his career, Carlton has helped secure more than $60 million in funding for arts, culture, and social impact organizations, including Interlochen Center for the Arts, the Adrienne Arsht Center, Florida Grand Opera, and Taproot Foundation. His expertise includes executive search and assessment, board development, fundraising strategy, leadership coaching, and consensus-building across diverse stakeholder groups.
Carlton’s leadership is shaped by his background as a professional opera singer, with an international performing career that included appearances at Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Albert Hall, the Berlin Philharmonic, as well as work on Emmy- and Oscar-nominated projects. This artistic foundation informs his approach to leadership as a human, disciplined, and creative practice—one that balances vision with structure and care with accountability.
A frequent writer and speaker, Carlton has been recognized as one of Miami’s 40 Under 40 Black Leaders of Today and Tomorrow and has contributed to national conversations on power and philanthropy through outlets such as the Miami Herald, DonorSearch Philanthropy Masterminds, and Grants Plus. He actively mentors emerging leaders through The Juilliard Black Alumni Group and New World Symphony’s Blue Program.
Carlton serves on multiple national boards, including Chamber Music America (Chair-Elect), Aspen Music Festival & School (Corporation Board), New York Festival of Song, and Nu Deco Ensemble, where he is Board Chair. He holds degrees from Rice University and The Juilliard School, a certification in Inclusive Workplaces from the University of South Florida, and Cornell University’s Advanced Certificate in Executive Selection Strategies, supporting his work in executive search and leadership assessment.