I started building community before I had a title for it. As a founding member of the City Arts Council, a commissioner on the Downtown Historic Preservation Review Commission, and the director of original community theatre productions seen by thousands, I learned early that the arts and events are not extras — they are essential infrastructure for thriving places. Over the years I have served as Executive Director of Main Street Fairmont, Economic Development Manager for three counties in West Virginia, and Creative Director of Events for venues and resorts across the region. I have taken programs from unprofitable to half a million dollars in revenue, grown social media engagement by 16,000%, and coached and trained hundreds of community leaders, volunteers, and creatives. I am also a proud U.S. Air Force veteran — an experience that gave me the discipline and process orientation that underlies everything I do. Every community I have worked in had people who cared deeply. They just needed someone to help them channel that care into action. That is what Catalyst Community Strategies exists to do.