Turn community into infrastructure for trust, intelligence, and growth.

About Chris

A serene landscape featuring a lake surrounded by mountains and trees, reflecting the clear blue sky.

Chris helps executives and organizations use community as a strategic lever to adapt faster, build trust, and drive measurable business results.

Chris Catania is a keynote speaker, thought leader, and award-winning strategist who helps leaders turn online communities into engines of growth and competitive advantage.

With 20+ years leading transformation at Fortune 500 companies, he has helped organizations leverage the power of community and collaboration to deepen trust, increase loyalty, build better products, drive engagement, save millions in costs and grow top-line revenue. Based in Southern California, Chris is Head of Community at Esri and the author of The Community-First Advantage (2025).

Now Available: The Community-First Advantage

Most leaders know community matters. Few know how to use it strategically.

The Community-First Advantage shows leaders how to move beyond engagement metrics and use community to:

Adapt to market and organizational change
Build trust with customers and employees
Reduce friction, cost, and complexity
Create a durable competitive advantage

This book is for leaders under real pressure, not theory collectors.

You can’t microwave community. It takes time, intention and trust.

What Leaders are Saying about the Book

You cannot microwave community...and you really can't

"What stands out most is the book’s clarity and sincerity. Catania avoids hype and speaks plainly, offering grounded principles that leaders, entrepreneurs, and change-makers can actually apply. This is not about building an audience but about cultivating belonging and mutual value. I love his mention of the fact that “you cannot microwave community”. And you really can’t – it takes intentionality, time, and effort. If you believe leadership is about impact beyond the balance sheet, The Community-First Advantage is a thoughtful, encouraging, and deeply human guide worth reading and revisiting."

- Executive Leader

Community is your competitive advantage

You cannot microwave community...and you really can't

"If you’ve ever thought, “Yeah, community matters… I just don’t know where to begin,” this book’s for you. The Community-First Advantage nails what most leadership books miss. Chris distills decades of real-world work into something that actually helps you go from belief to execution without the usual fluff. The ADAPT model and the 3E Impact Framework give leaders and operators a common way to treat community as real infrastructure instead of a side project. The case studies from places like LEGO, Sephora, Salesforce, and UiPath make it all click. If you’re trying to grow faster, cut churn, or keep your best people longer, this book shows you how to make community your secret weapon instead of just another “nice to have.”

- Community Builder

Much needed (Especially Now)

Humans need communities and this books shows how to build them to create sustainable organizations

"In this AI content apocalypse, I can't be the only one asking "how do I build a real advantage?", and all answers point towards building community for my company. But there are no books to help you get started. Until Chris gifted us this masterpiece. If you're looking for answers, you'll find some here."

- Founder

Humans need communities and this books shows how to build them to create sustainable organizations

"Great playbook for organizational leaders that understand that communities are more productive than employees and communities purchase more than individual customers. Science-based and very practical, with a clear framework to build communities inside and outside of orgs. The book has enjoyable narratives that show how Chris and others have build strong communities so that orgs (and communities) thrive. It's very much worth reading.”

- Author and Neuroscientist

How I Work With Leaders

I help executives and organizations use community as a strategic advantage to adapt faster, build trust, and drive measurable business results.

Executive Advisory & Strategy

Partnering with senior leaders to align community with growth, trust, and operational goals.

Keynotes & Leadership Workshops

Executive talks and offsites that reframe community as a leadership system, not a side initiative.

Community-First Enablement

Translating strategy into action through operating models, alignment, and capability building.

Speaking Appearances

Podcast Guest: How to Design Better Events with Community-driven Shared Value and Intention

This episode discusses the growing significance of community building in events. Chris shares his expertise on creating impactful community initiatives through understanding and valuing one's audience and the concept of shared value.

Podcast Guest: Amplifying Customer Success Through Community Engagement

SHEDGEEK PODCAST: His community-first philosophy is not just theory; it's a proactive approach that Chris promises will turn community into a strategic business asset, with a sneak peek into his upcoming book that's packed with leadership strategies. Delve into the artistry behind engaging communities to drive trust and loyalty, leading to undeniable business success

Podcast Guest: The Power of Investing in Community-First Business Strategy

Explore how fostering a community-centric mindset can revolutionize customer experiences and internal culture in business.

be a better sales leader Podcast: Community-powered Intentional Leadership & The Power of Mentors

On the Be A Better Sales Leader podcast, Chris draws the parallels between building communities and how collaboration and transparency results in intentional leadership. His insights cover everything from the evolution of leadership communication styles, attaching to bigger goals, inspiring your teams, having a vision and building personal relationships.

KeyNote: Why Your Community Needs to Create Shared-value for Customers and Company Leadership

Chris discusses the importance of using The 3Es: Experience, Enablement and Evaluation to create community-driven shared value for customers and stakeholders.

Podcast Guest: Leveraging Data Analytics for Community Success

Hosts Jim Storer and Shannon Abram chat with Chris about Leveraging data analytics for community success, community building and education for executives, and his work building a community ROI model and its impact on organizational value

Expert Panel: How to Leverage Internal Stakeholder Relationships

Live Event: 3 Reasons why Leaders don't Maximize Community the Right Way.

Partnering with internal stakeholders are key to community growth and customer connection. Chris shares how to engage, nurture and measure those relationships.

Live Event: 3 Reasons why Leaders don't Maximize Community the Right Way.

Chris discusses best practices to deliver community-driven value to executives across the organization.

Webinar: How brand Communities drive customer success and business value

Chris Catania shares strategies he used for aligning internally, securing stakeholder buy-in, and optimizing a brand community to deliver measurable business value to the company, customers, partners, and employees.

Podcast Guest: Hiring, building and scaling Specialized Community Teams

Chris discusses the role specializations and career paths, hiring for specializations within community and communicating your team’s value to executives.

Speaking testimonials

“Chris is an engaging storyteller that inspires attendees to think differently, consider new approaches, and innovate in their work. We’ve asked him to present to multiple Connect audiences and he consistently ranks among the top speakers.”

- Jim Storer, Co-Founder and COO of Community Roundtable

"Chris taught me so much of what I know about how collaboration and community can connect people to the business and each other, and drive real results. If you want to talk to one of the top thought leaders about community, collaboration and social media, talk to Chris. He is a visionary.”

- James Warda

Author, Speaker & Vice President of External Affairs and Business Development, HHC.

Chris Catania

Chris Catania

Turn community into infrastructure for trust, intelligence, and growth.

About Chris

Now Available: The Community-First Advantage