McCarty has been an Iowa JPEC lecturer in the Tippie College of Business from 2004-14 and is currently teaching as an adjunct lecturer in its online program. He has 34 years in the business world conducting business domestically and internationally in parts manufacturing, seed production, computer design and production, wholesale distribution, banking and stock brokerage, transportation (land and ocean going), and aluminum production. McCarty received a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Northern Iowa in 1973. He has held a Series 7 stock broker’s license since 1989. McCarty served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1968-70.