MELINDA CARLTON

BIOGRAPHY

Melinda Carlton is the Executive Director of Administration in the Division of Risk Management of NovaStar Financial, Inc. located at corporate headquarters in Kansas City, MO.

Melinda Carlton started her career as an entrepreneur in the Kansas City metropolitan area as a developer of small businesses. Troubled businesses were purchased, operated and developed into a viable economic entity, then marketed for sale. A variety of businesses projected to be successful in niche markets were started, marketed, operated and subsequently sold. Ms. Carlton, President of Carlton, Inc., was responsible for business plans, financial strategies, municipal regulatory relations, community outreach, facility operations, marketing, and the final sale of each business.

With an undergraduate degree in Political Science as a foundation, Ms. Carlton obtained a masters degree in Public Administration; both degrees are from the University of Kansas. Her public service career included town, city and county manager positions in Rhode Island, Kansas, New Jersey, Missouri, Michigan and Oregon. As chief executive officer of the jurisdictions, Ms. Carlton was the chief fiscal and administrative officer with responsibility for budgets that exceeded $600M. During this time she was the County Administrator/Controller in Kent County, MI which is a top-100 county with a population of 650,000 and an employee base of 4,000.

Melinda has an extensive formal fine art and classical music background with studies at the Kansas City Art Institute, Sophie Newcomb, San Francisco School of Fine Art, the Conservatory of Music in Kansas City, and the University of Rome, Italy. She is a Master Gardner specializing in propagation, lily hybridization and water garden design.