Taft welcomes Rob Carter, former commissioner of the Indiana Department of Correction, to the firm’s Public Affairs Strategies Group. As a vice president of public affairs, Carter will advise clients on a wide range of policy and government relations matters.

Carter has a long history of working in public safety administration. He was appointed as the Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Correction by Indiana Governor Eric J. Holcomb in 2017. In this role, he led Indiana’s largest agency with operations of 19 adult facilities, five juvenile facilities, and 10 parole districts statewide. Carter also served as executive director of risk management and security at Ivy Tech Community College, where he was responsible for the safety and security of the nation’s largest college with over 100,000 students and staff at more than 40 campuses statewide. Prior to that, Carter was the director of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for the State of Indiana under Indiana Governors Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence. He was responsible for the stewardship of land, associated regulatory functions, and promoting Indiana’s outdoors. He also served as director of the Indiana DNR Division of Law Enforcement, a position he was appointed to by Governor Daniels. Early in his career, Carter was elected as the youngest Sheriff in the State of Indiana, serving two terms for Clay County, Indiana.

Carter received an M.P.A. in Public Policy Analysis from Indiana State University, a B.S., magna cum laude, in Public Administration from Franklin University, and an A.S. in Criminal Justice/Police Science from Ivy Tech Community College. He is a part-time adjunct lecturer at Indiana State University in the political science department.

Taft’s Public Affairs Strategies Group is comprised of multidisciplinary government relations professionals that represent corporations, small and medium-sized companies, nonprofit organizations, and associations with matters before federal, state, and local legislative and executive branches of government. Taft’s experienced state and local policy teams are present in all Taft markets, with the federal policy team’s national practice located in the firm’s Washington, DC office.