The CLE Board unanimously appointed Fallon Hovis as CLE’s new Executive Director.
After 30 years with the Center for Life Enrichment, and 10 years as executive director, Sandy Carlton is retiring.
Since the CLE’s inception, Carlton said she has been a part of the organization.
“I have worked for CLE since the very beginning,” Carlton said. “I worked with the original founders when they were forming the organization. Whatever they needed, I was there to do it. For the last 10 years, I have been executive director.”
Though she could not narrow down the memories during her time at the CLE, she said some of her favorite memories were when the board would have winter board meetings in Florida.
“It became a pretty close-knit group,” Carlton said. “I also loved watching the organization grow and change. With every president, it changed. Whether the focus was on the presenters or the scope of classes or membership, the organization has always been able to grow and change. The CLE has the capability to go in any direction it wants to go, and I think that is what always kept it interesting.”
She said the main thing she will miss the most about the CLE is the people she worked with.
“I will definitely miss the members and the board,” Carlton said. “They have all been great to work with. Fallon, who is taking my place, is amazing. I think I will also miss the challenge, the interaction and the positive attitude of the organization.”
The importance of CLE to the community, according to Carlton, is that it provides a need to Highlands.
“The CLE provides a need to the community that is not satisfied by any other organization,” Carlton said. “That was the reason it started. We wanted to fulfill a need for people that still wanted to learn even at their retired age. The CLE gives these people an opportunity to still learn and socialize too. That is what it has always meant.”
With her experience through the years, Carlton has worked with many presidents and under numerous boards over the years.
Mark Whitehead presided as President for three years and said Carlton’s retirement marks the completion of a long and successful time as executive director.
“I was fortunate to work with Sandy during my time as a volunteer, Board member and President,” Whitehead said. “Sandy was with CLE from the beginning and guided all of us. During my tenure when we had a small office and no classroom her knowledge and organizational skill kept 60 classes running smoothly all over Highlands. Sandy is a great friend and will be missed.”
Former President Ed Mawyer worked closely with Carlton and said that the CLE would not have succeeded without Sandy and her presence.
“Sandy is a true joy to know and work with,” Mawyer said. “A friend for life.”
CLE’s current President Lee Garrett said Carlton has been the face of the CLE for the past 30 years.
“She has devoted countless hours to make CLE a special place for ‘life enrichment,’” Garrett said. “Thanks, Sandy, for a job well done.”
The CLE Board unanimously appointed Fallon Hovis as CLE’s new Executive Director.
“Fallon brings a broad array of skills to CLE, and she will do an outstanding job in her new position,” Garrett said.
Hovis is originally from Western Pennsylvania where she attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
With a successful career consuming more time that she was willing to sacrifice, Hovis vowed to live a slower lifestyle.
“After selling my company in 2015, my husband (of now 16 years) and I took some time off to travel and reconnect with each other, resurrecting years of lost time,” Hovis said. “What was intended to be a three-month celebration trip, turned into two years of traveling while searching for our true selves, our dreams and designing our ideal future. Visiting Highlands a few times during our travels, then constantly aching to return quickly prompted the impulsive conversation of ‘let’s just move there.’ Living up to our life goal of trading in a highway for a dirt road, we settled into Highlands for a slow, simple life.”
Hovis said CLE has been an incredible opportunity to observe first-hand the threads that tie the community together.
“With CLE being a main component in the Highland’s community for over 30 years, there is a strong history behind this organization and what it offers our community,” Hovis said. “I look forward to preserving and honoring its foundation and also contributing to its growth.”
The importance of CLE to Hovis is all about family.
“Since its inception, CLE has been more like a family and it will continue as such,” Hovis said. “This family structure has been and always will be one that is welcoming to visitors and locals alike. CLE’s program offering will be an invitation not only to learn— but to engage, to create, to inspire. Life enrichment is fulfilling the mind, the heart and the soul. Our community is growing, and CLE will implement growth models that will sustain the growth of our community and become relevant, engaging and inclusive for all backgrounds, all ages and all interests. Because what ties a family together better than fulfilling and supporting one another’s hopes, interests and enjoyments? We will continue building upward from this sturdy foundation.”
With Carlton stepping down, Hovis said she has big shoes to fill.
“Sandy has been with the organization since 1992, she leaves big shoes to fill,” Hovis said. “From coordinating classes, managing memberships, to maintaining the financials she has served the CLE members and the community with passion, honesty and integrity. I hope she finds peace and accomplishment in the legacy that she left with CLE while she enjoys the time off that she deserves and has rightfully earned.”
Carlton plans to be involved at a reduced capacity as a consultant for CLE but is eager to travel, work in her garden, read and enjoy life with her husband, Bob and their two Rottweiler dogs.
- By Christopher Smith