Throughout her career in business, nonprofit leadership, and community advocacy, Candes Carter, MPA has been a bridge between organizations and the complex web of relationships they depend upon for success. She is a trusted voice to business executives and community influencers, helping both to translate their desire for growth and positive change into sustainable partnerships which achieve results.
For over 15+ years Candes has managed a portfolio of payor accounts developing strategies, coordinating with internal and external teams to deliver solutions that meet clients' needs, and identifying opportunities to grow accounts. Recently, at a fast growing Health Tech firm, Candes became a powerful change agent in championing an organization-wide focus on aligning business success with inclusion, mentorship, genuine dialogue, and cultural capacity-building. Her data-driven approach to strategy, passion for delighting clients, and ever-present voice in the transformational work of employee resource groups, made Candes a rising star in the movement to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into every aspect of mental health service delivery: workforce, customers, leadership, supply chain, and the complex intersections between providers, payors, practitioners, and public resources.
As a people-focused servant leader, Candes is driven by a passion for assisting children and adults reach their aspirations by securing resources and breaking down barriers, while strengthening their self-confidence. She is an active mentor of high-potential youth and young professionals from traditionally marginalized communities, with a specific focus on transferring her proven capacity for critical thinking, data analysis, team leadership, and operational excellence to the next generation of advocates.
As the President of Together Gert Town, Candes remains a catalyst to the Gert Town community in preserving the historical richness of the neighborhood. Candes leads in forging partnerships with state and local government leaders, strengthening connections to donors, and inspiring collective action from community members. Together Gert Town has built a model for transparent, resource-conscious execution which is transforming community-based approaches to elevating the quality of life in the Greater New Orleans area.
Candes is also the Chair of Junior Achievement Greater New Orleans Young Professionals Board, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering work-readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills to K-12 students. She maintains active commitments to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri, and Alpha Kappa Alpha’s international service organization, and previously served as the Community Outreach and Advocacy Chair for the Urban League of Greater New Orleans Young Professionals.
