James@adelante.partners

Specialty Areas:

+ Assistance with Board of Directors
+ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
+ Fundraising & Development
+ Branding & Refreshed Images
+ Strategy (Frameworks, Plans)
+ Organizational Structure Executive Director Evaluation
+ Executive Coaching, Thought Partnership & Accountability
+ Meeting Facilitation
+ Community Engagement Strategies
+ Economic Development

James Alva is a builder, creator and a change agent focused on advancing opportunities for the neediest in our communities. Via Adelante Partners, he advises nonprofits, foundations and government leaders on how to advance through the next stage of their growth while keeping a focus on community.

His career spans working for mission driven organizations within philanthropy, academia, nonprofit and Corporate America. He has been a community organizer, an Executive Director, philanthropist, a founder, and a small business owner.

All these experiences have allowed him to see organizational challenges from multiple angles. Before starting Adelante Partners Inc., he served as Senior VP and the Regional U.S. Market Leader for Citigroup’s Community Investment Division in which he directed the bank’s philanthropic strategy to invest millions of dollars in under resourced communities using a racial equity lens.

He previously led the nonprofit Small Business Development Centers in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

He is skilled at bringing different community stakeholders together, understanding their challenges, and uniting them towards a common goal. Throughout his career, he has helped to found numerous organizations, including a community bank in Los Angeles called ProAmerica Bank, a nonprofit technology accelerator in San Francisco known as Tech Futures Group, the LA County Center for Financial Empowerment, and One LA, which is a $1 billion procurement program focused on helping minority small business owners win sizable public contracts.

James currently serves on the boards of three non-profits: the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Southern CA Grantmakers (Chair of the Board), and the Foundation for the Los Angeles Community College District. James has a large network in philanthropy, nonprofit, government, finance, and business, and he has used that network to build numerous public private partnerships.

With a penchant for organizational transformation, he is skilled at helping organizations cut through a lot of “noise” and develop a clear strategy of how to achieve their strategic business goals while maintaining an equity and social impact lens.

James is a first-generation college graduate with a degree from Stanford University. He also holds a professional certification in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University. James and his husband, an educator, are former foster parents who adopted twin boys. They live in Pasadena, CA with their [very energetic] toddler twins, their dog, and their cat.