Senior Vice President of Human Resources

Ret. Col. Curtis Carson is a senior vice president who leads human resources at Braidy Industries. Col. Carson has more than 30 years of experience with the U.S. Army including expertise in training and strategic planning. He previously served as Deputy Commander and chief of staff of the Joint Multinational Training Command in Germany.

Col. Carson held a senior role in the U.S. military delegation to NATO Headquarters in Brussels. He represented different accounts at NATO including the war against ISIS. Closing on his 30th year of service, he was offered a position at Braidy.

Col. Carson, who holds a master of arts degree in human resources development, turned down a civilian position in Italy. Without visiting Ashland, he decided to accept a position with Braidy and purchase a home with his wife Linda. She has settled in as a nurse at Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital. They have two grown children, Malia, 22, and Kirstin, 19, who serve in the U.S. Army and U.S. Coast Guard respectively.

“I felt compelled to be with Braidy,” he said. “I was drawn to restart industry and jobs in this region.”                 

Carson retired from the Army on Aug. 31, 2017. On Sept. 1, 2017, he began his new journey from Brussels to Kentucky. The Carson family had previously served two assignments at Fort Campbell and remembered the beauty of the state.

Today, his downtown Ashland office is a hub for kick starting jobs in the Tri-State. His first order of business: contacting the thousands of people who have applied online for a job at Braidy.

“With construction beginning soon, we will be involving hundreds of people, which will involve subcontractors,” he said. “This will be a lot of jobs.”

While spreading the word about jobs, he has reached out to Kentucky Career Center and the Kentucky Labor Cabinet. In conjunction with Ashland Community and Technical College, Braidy has co-developed an Advanced Integrated Technology associates degree that will produce "Braidy Ready" employees for the aluminum mill.

“We realize there is a lot of skilled labor here,” he said. “People have been laid off. Many of these people have metal manufacturing skills and that will not require them to go through the program. As we post positions for the mill and desired education, many will already have the needed skills and only have some skills needing polish.”

In this case, those interested will then need to fit the criteria for certain positions. Col. Carson hopes to have mill positions online by the end of the summer.

“We have a long road to go, but we’ve clearly started the journey,” he said.