James Amato is a founder who builds for founders. As Founder and CEO of Catalyst Advisors & Consultants, he helps mission-driven leaders turn what’s already possible inside their organizations into lasting prosperity.
Across more than two decades in economic development, James has come to trust one thing above almost all else: when you bet on the people willing to start, you change the trajectory of an entire community. That work has taken many forms: founder of America the Entrepreneurial, member of the Advisory Circle for North Carolina’s statewide Right to Start coalition, and years embedded in Wilson, NC’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
His grandmother, Angelina, was an entrepreneur who backed people long before the proof arrived, and James has spent his career doing the same. Through LauncHOLLYSPRINGS, he shows up for the dreamers, the risk-takers, and the builders who make this town go, working to ensure that anyone with the courage to begin has someone in their corner.