About Carol
Carol was born in Seattle, Washington, grew up in Los Angeles, California. She graduated from Washington State University with a degree in pharmacy in 1979 (Dean’s Honor Roll), and worked as a hospital clinical pharmacist for about a decade before returning to school to study architecture.
She and her husband, Ron, attended UCLA resulting in a degree in interior design with electives at the Graduate School of Architecture in energy conserving design for Carol and an MBA for Ron.
Upon graduation in 1984, they moved to Indianapolis and Carol began a bachelor and a master degree in architecture at Ball State University. Carol received a Bachelor degree in Architecture in 1988 and a Master of Architecture in Historic Preservation in 1989 from Ball State University.
The following year Ron’s company moved the Schleifs to Toronto, where Carol became executive director for Toronto Habitat for Humanity and supervised the construction of the first Habitat home in that city.
After every company move, the Schleifs moved back to Carmel. She became a licensed architect in Indiana in 1997 and worked for several architecture firms before resuming her small business, Nightingale Designs, Inc., which first began in 1984. Interest in residential real estate led her to take appraisal and real estate courses, and pass the Indiana real estate exam.
As part of the SW Clay annexation, Carol was appointed to a 4-year term on the Carmel Plan Commission where she realized how much her diverse background could be used to help in planning the future of our city. She chaired the Subdivision Committee and the Residential Design Guidelines Committee during this time.
She also served as the Carmel representative to the Hamilton County Plan Commission for two years and then served on the Indiana Fire & Building Safety Commission's Residential Code Review committee.