Legatus is 'a network for business contacts'

Mike Carlton is national director of sales for Getinge, a medical device company headquartered in Sweden, and president of Legatus’ North Atlanta Chapter. In February, at Legatus’ Summit 2023 in Orlando, FL, he was presented the 2022 Ace of the Year award in recognition of his successful member recruitment efforts. In 18 months, he oversaw the growth of his chapter from 20 to 30 member couples.

Tell us about your upbringing.

I am from Buffalo, NY. We lived there because my father, Wray Carlton, was a Buffalo Bills running back. I played college football at Miami University in Oxford, OH, where I met my wife, Laurie. She was on the Miami dance team and became an NFL cheerleader for the Cincinnati Bengals.
 
We got married in the Catholic Church in 1991. Laurie was a cradle Catholic, but I was not Catholic at the time. I grew up in the Presbyterian Church, and it was with Laurie that I attended my first Catholic Mass. At the time all I knew about Catholics was that they had big families and loved Notre Dame football!

I began to study Protestant writers to better understand my Presbyterian faith and started to develop an anti-Catholic bias. Later, however, I went to a presentation by Gerry Matatics, a former Presbyterian minister who became Catholic, and was exposed to the writings of Scott Hahn, also a former Presbyterian minister. After an unexpected visit to Mother Angelica’s Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, AL, I converted and was received into the Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil of 2002. Laurie and I now have six kids and are very active in the Catholic faith.
 
What are some of the ministries in which you’ve been involved?

I gave talks about my conversion around our diocese and was on EWTN’s The Journey Home with Marcus Grodi in 2011. Additionally, Laurie and I founded a marriage ministry called Marriages Are Covenants. We started MAC after observing how the marriages of some couples whom we knew had fallen apart. We wondered: why is there not a program to help married couples? MAC would meet quarterly for a date night for couples, which included a speaker, food, and fellowship. At its height we had 100 couples participating, but MAC went on hiatus when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. We’re presently in the process of re-booting the ministry.

Why did you join Legatus?

I was initially invited to come as a speaker to talk about my conversion to Catholicism and was invited to join. Laurie and I really enjoy meeting other Catholic couples who have similar interests to ours, and it also has become a network for business contacts.
 
How were you able to grow the membership of the North Atlanta Chapter?

I stepped in post-Covid when the chapter had some real opportunities for growth. The pandemic peeled off some members, and the two chapters in our area had consolidated into one. We decided to go on a recruiting binge, seeing if we could bring back old members and welcome new ones.

We started recruiting in the fall of 2021. I found that reaching out with a twofold message was very effective. First, if you are Catholic, what are you doing to practice and enhance your faith? Second, as with MAC, we focused on marriage. Legatus events are essentially formal date nights, where you can dress up and do something fun with your spouse. So, by becoming a Legatus member, you not only help build up your Catholic faith, but you also help your marriage.

We’re getting 60 to 70 participants at Legatus meetings now, and we’ve already outgrown two of the places where we liked to meet. We’re growing fast and are really enjoying it.