Carrington M Carter of East Chop Capital: ‘Diversity Across Executive Teams and Companies Results In Representation That is More Reflective of the World’

Diversity across executive teams and companies results in representation that is more reflective of the world. It also allows more people to relate because diversity, especially at the top, is such a visible demonstration of what success can “look like.”

I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Carrington McKinley Carter.

Carrington McKinley Carter is a serial entrepreneur, real estate developer, private equity investor, and wealth strategist who is passionate about building businesses, economic empowerment, wealth creation, and uplifting the community.

He is Co-founder & General Partner of East Chop Capital, a private equity firm with over $20 million in assets under management. East Chop Capital was born from the idea and necessity of working together — pooling the resources of many, to accomplish much more than individuals can on their own. Its first two real estate funds are focused on the $112 billion global vacation rental market. Future investments will support companies in real estate, technology, financial services, media, and sports.

Under the Getaway Society brand, a sub-brand of East Chop Capital, the company owns and manages a network of luxury vacation rental homes in Martha’s Vineyard, Hilton Head, Gatlinburg, Orlando, Virginia Beach, Broken Bow (Oklahoma), and the Pocono Mountains.

Additionally, Carrington is also Co-founder and President of McKinley Carter Enterprises, a real estate investment and property management company with a portfolio of residential and commercial properties

​Carrington’s entrepreneurial success has been featured in Forbes, Bloomberg, The New York Times, Business Insider, Cheddar, Travel + Leisure, PhocusWire, Black Enterprise, Ebony, Essence, Travel Noire, Rollingout, and more.

Prior to running these businesses full-time, Carrington worked for 10 years in pharmaceutical marketing at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Abbott Laboratories, and inVentiv Health. Throughout his corporate career, he successfully marketed products in various stages of their life cycle, across therapeutic areas including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, antibiotics, and oncology. He gained significant experience working with diverse teams, matrix organizations, multimillion-dollar budgets, and billion-dollar brands.

​In the community, he is active in Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and the National Hampton Alumni Association, Inc. Carrington graduated from Hampton University with a BS in Chemistry. He also earned an MBA in Marketing from the University of Pittsburgh. He enjoys reading, exercising, mentoring, traveling, and has been an avid investor for nearly 20 years. Carrington and his wonderful wife Kia reside in Columbus, OH.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Like many entrepreneurs and business owners, my story is pretty complicated and covers multiple paths. I’d say there were four things that brought me to this point in life: (1) Reading Rich Dad Poor Dad as a freshmen at Hampton University, which introduced me to the concept of having your money work for you (instead of simply working for your money) and building wealth; (2) Starting my corporate career at the beginning of The Great Recession. Seeing many people lose their jobs, or those who couldn’t get a job, caused me to invest heavily in residential real estate at bargain prices, initially as an insurance policy against my corporate career. These investments showed me the power of building wealth through real estate investing. (3) After going on a group ski trip in the Poconos and renting a vacation rental home, I saw the business opportunity and invited two Hampton colleagues to invest with me to build our own vacation rental home. This led to the $20 million portfolio that we now own and manage. (4) As more people asked to invest alongside us, we decided that the best vehicle to do this was to create a separate private equity firm and a real estate fund, thus East Chop Capital was born. Through the East Chop Capital journey, we realized the power that comes with investing together, and also realized how much a vehicle like East Chop Capital is needed, especially in our community.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

The story of how we came to develop East Chop Capital is pretty powerful and is the most interesting to me. The path that led me to join forces with others is pivotal to how I think as a leader. Ultimately we want to be a private equity firm that has billions of dollars in assets under management. We have a long way to go, but it is interesting and fascinating to me how two Hampton grads came together, two guys who didn’t go to a top business school or work on Wall Street, and with a vision and ambition, literally went door-to-door in our community and have raised over $15 million dollars to invest in luxury vacation rental homes. This journey is interesting and fascinating because the sky is truly the limit when people work together and believe in shared goals.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The only mistakes in life are when something happens and you don’t learn from it. Therefore, I appreciate any “mistakes” that we made along the way, because it undoubtedly taught us something. We’ve had fun building our company and accomplished much along the way. I hate to be a Debbie/Dudley Downer, but I can’t think of any funny mistakes. It’s been a tremendously hard journey. As Black fund managers and business owners, we’ve had to work twice as hard for half the credit, and significantly under-resourced. We have a joke now that we’re like cats because we’ve metaphorically had to die nine lives (well eight actually) in order to get to where we are now. The amount of sacrifice has been monumental.

Can you share three reasons with our readers about why it’s really important for a business to have a diverse executive team?

1) There is well-documented research that supports the argument that diversity drives business performance.

2) In Ray Dalio’s book, Principles, he talks a lot about how people are “wired.” When people are wired differently, they can innately tap into skills and ways of thinking that are different, which ultimately might be a beneficial perspective to the team.

3) Diversity allows for the understanding of different markets and consumers and enables the building of relationships across all the parameters upon which one measures diversity.

4) Diversity helps with creating an inclusive culture, because a company’s employees might be able to identify with different members of the executive team, and more people will be able to relate to such a visible demonstration of what success “looks like” in the company.

More broadly can you describe how this can have an effect on our culture?

Diversity across executive teams and companies results in representation that is more reflective of the world. It also allows more people to relate because diversity, especially at the top, is such a visible demonstration of what success can “look like.”

Can you recommend three things the community/society/the industry can do help address the root of the diversity issues in executive leadership?

1) Recruitment — Not being able to find talent is an excuse. HBCUs are a great starting point for new grads. Partnerships with Black professional organizations like NSBE, National Medical Association, Executive Leadership Council, and even fraternities and sororities are another great source of talent.

2) Representation — For the reasons mentioned above, it’s critical for employees to see diverse representation across all levels of an organization.

3) Retention — This comes down to creating a company culture in which all employees feel valued and there is equal opportunity for advancement and learning.

How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?

Leadership is sacrifice. It’s putting your employees and customers before yourself. It’s having an obsessive customer service mindset, and a hyper focus on growth in order to sustain the organization and your team. Leadership is having irrational optimism and a will to accomplish anything your team sets its mind to.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1) The wealth gap is wider than you think, even among the top 0.5–1% of Black America. Many in Black America are doing well, but we’re building from scratch with no wealth or inheritance. In addition, our lifestyles prevent us from accumulating patient capital, risk capital, and “I believe in you” capital to invest. Without these types of capital, we won’t close the wealth gap or even put a dent in it.

2) Strangers will support you more than your friends will. This statement is self-explanatory, and also very sad.

3) Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Being successful, especially a desire for extreme success, doesn’t get easier.

4) Banks are designed to help people with wealth, not help people get wealth. This statement is also self-explanatory, and come hell or high water, it needs to change ASAP.

5) Tell your story. Let others know what you’re working on and trying to accomplish. Ask for help. If folks don’t know what you’re doing, they can’t assist and/or match you with resources and people that can help.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

The wealth gap is large and widening. Lack of access to capital in a wealthy country like the United States is truly despicable. There has been a lot of lip service regarding initiatives to mitigate inequalities, but not enough action.

I propose a movement to “Cut the check, then let’s have a conversation.” Perhaps it’s a partnership between a company’s business objectives and philanthropic objectives (giving/donations). For small business owners, entrepreneurs, and startups seeking capital, we cannot wait for bureaucracy, consensus meetings, “running it up the flagpole,” and “well, this doesn’t exactly fit in our wheelhouse.” At what level does a company feel comfortable cutting a check (of course based on merit and potential), while the conversations continue for perhaps a larger investment. In the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, King Jr., “We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there “is” such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.”

Cut the check, make the investment, and then we can keep the conversation going for a larger investment after a company’s bureaucracy and consensus meetings. At what level can you cut a check now? $25,000? $100,000? $1 million? $5 million?

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Money is the cheapest form of currency.” Money is a tool. It’s time that we shift our mentality to thinking of it as such. Go get you some currency. Focus on VALUE, not just money.

Currency (noun):

-A medium of exchange for goods and services

-Money or other items used to facilitate transactions

-That which is in circulation, or is given and taken as having or representing value (whew, a WORDT right there)

I can think of MANY types of currency that are better than money:

(1) Knowledge/Wisdom

(2) Experience

(3) Relationships

(4) Access

(5) Influence

(6) Power

(7) Control

(8) Trust/Confidence

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

I’m going to say LeBron James. We’re both around the same age. Both kids from similar small towns in Ohio. He’s from Akron, I’m from Dayton. We both seem to have a genuine passion for giving back to the community, being outspoken, and investing to build wealth.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Personal: @carringtonmcarter (Instagram)

East Chop Capital: @eastchopcapital (Instagram) and East Chop Capital (LinkedIn)

Getaway Society vacation rental homes: @getawaysociety (Instagram), Getaway Society (Facebook and LinkedIn)

This was very meaningful, thank you so much!