In his capacity as a nonprofit leadership and management professional, James Wright has worked to reinvent nonprofit organizations through servant leadership, increased philanthropic support, and positive brand awareness for education, hunger-relief, environmental advocacy, and political causes. In July 2020, Wright joined A Step Beyond (ASB), an organization dedicated to empowering opportunity youth to transform their lives, families, and communities through dance education, academic support, and family services. Wright serves as Chief Executive Officer, overseeing all of the organization's operations and external relations. Wright has more than a decade of resource development, marketing, and senior leadership experience with local and national nonprofit organizations. Prior to joining ASB, Wright served as CEO for the Classroom of the Future Foundation (CFF) from December 2015 to July 2020. The mission of CFF is to create innovative learning environments in San Diego public schools and prepare students for the jobs of the future. At CFF, Wright led a successful strategic planning process to redefine the organization, diversified the fundraising model and restored fiscal sustainability, revitalized the Board of Directors, and redesigned CFF programming. As a result of these efforts, Wright received San Diego METRO Magazine's "40 under 40" award for being one of San Diego's brightest young leaders. From August 2011 to October 2015, Wright served at Feeding America San Diego, the largest distributor of donated food in San Diego County. Wright oversaw all philanthropic giving, branding, and messaging. His work included serving as a member of the organization's executive leadership team and managing a ten person department to achieve a $6.2 million fundraising goal for FY15-16.From 2009 to 2011, Wright designed, implemented and managed all fundraising initiatives for organizational priorities at the Federation of American Scientists through institutional, corporate and government support. Wright specialized in membership development and developed a proven track record of success in cultivating valuable relationships with donors.