Jessica Carlton will also serve as office manager

After serving for four years as the Somerset-Pulaski Economic Development Authority’s accounting officer, Jessica Carlton has been promoted to chief financial officer.

Carlton will also assume the duties of office manager.

“During SPEDA’s first four years, Jessica has worked tirelessly to help not only our organization be the best it can be, but our community as well,” said Chris Girdler, SPEDA’s president and CEO. “Her list of job duties is endless and in order to more appropriately reflect and reward the tremendous amount of work she does daily, I am excited to promote her to CFO and office manager.”

In addition to overseeing and executing SPEDA’s accounting processes and procedures, Carlton has successfully written grants for the organization and serves as its lead event planner. As a result of her financial expertise and attention to detail, Girdler said, SPEDA has received a clean audit for every fiscal year of its existence as an organization.

“Jessica has led the way on many fronts financially for SPEDA and oversees a litany of programs and community projects,” Girdler said. “She constantly seeks ways to continue her education in finance and grant writing, and we appreciate and support her robust community engagement.”

A graduate of Pulaski County High School, Carlton attended Eastern Kentucky University. She has more than a decade of experience in the banking industry in addition to experience as an office manager and finance director for the Somerset-Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce.

Carlton is a 2020 Leadership Lake Cumberland graduate. She serves as the current president of Readers to Leaders Story Book Trails, a board member of United Way of South Central Kentucky, secretary/treasurer of the Lake Cumberland Regional Training Consortium, and the treasurer of Leadership Lake Cumberland, Inc.

She lives in Shopville with her husband, Nathan, where they own and operate a small cattle farm and have two children — son Hunter and daughter Taylor.