impossible de convertir implicitement le type de Système.Les Collections.Génériques.List<char>

Je suis en train de créer une liste de noms de client qui est récupérée à partir d'un appel Json mais j'obtiens une erreur:

impossible de convertir implicitement le type System.Collections.Generic.List<char>
pour System.Collections.Generic.List<string>

Je suis à l'aide de ces 2 classes:

Clients:

namespace eko_app
{
static class Customers
{
public static List<CustomerResponse> GetCustomers(string customerURL)
{
List<CustomerResponse> customers = new List<CustomerResponse>();
try
{
var w = new WebClient();
var jsonData = string.Empty;
//make the select products call
jsonData = w.DownloadString(customerURL);
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(jsonData))
{
//deserialize the json to c# .net
var response = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RootObject>(jsonData);
if (response != null)
{
customers = response.response;
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}
return customers;
}
public class BusinessAssociate
{
public string business_associate_id { get; set; }
public string created_by { get; set; }
public DateTime created { get; set; }
public DateTime modified { get; set; }
public bool? deleted { get; set; }
public string business_id { get; set; }
public string identity_id { get; set; }
public string associate_type { get; set; }
public string name { get; set; }
}
public class Identity
{
public string identity_id { get; set; }
public string created_by { get; set; }
public DateTime created { get; set; }
public DateTime modified { get; set; }
public bool? deleted { get; set; }
public string name { get; set; }
public object identity_type { get; set; }
}
public class ChartOfAccount
{
public string chart_of_accounts_id { get; set; }
public DateTime created { get; set; }
public DateTime modified { get; set; }
public string created_by { get; set; }
public string deleted { get; set; }
public string account_id { get; set; }
public string account_name { get; set; }
public string business_id { get; set; }
public string account_category { get; set; }
public string accounts_groups_id { get; set; }
public string cash_equivalent { get; set; }
public string acc_category { get; set; }
public decimal? balance { get; set; }
public decimal? credit_balance { get; set; }
public decimal? debit_balance { get; set; }
public decimal? absolute_balance { get; set; }
public string balance_type { get; set; }
public decimal? raw_balance { get; set; }
public string extended_name { get; set; }
public string normal_balance_type { get; set; }
}
public class CustomerResponse
{
public BusinessAssociate BusinessAssociate { get; set; }
public Identity Identity { get; set; }
public ChartOfAccount ChartOfAccount { get; set; }
}
public class Messages
{
public string msgs { get; set; }
public string errs { get; set; }
}
public class RootObject
{
public List<CustomerResponse> response { get; set; }
public Messages messages { get; set; }
}
}
}

HomeForm:

 private void GetCustomerNameList()
{
//get customers
customerURL = "https://eko-app.com/BusinessAssociate/list_associates/1/sessionId:" + sessionID + ".json";
var customers = Customers.GetCustomers(customerURL);
List<string> customerNames = new List<string>();
foreach (var c in customers)
{
customerNames = c.BusinessAssociate.name.ToList(); <--------error thrown here
}
}

L'erreur est levée à customerNames = c.BusinessAssociate.name.ToList(); sur le HomeForm.

Ce que je fais mal dans la création d'une liste de noms de client?