James Willcox is the co-founder and Co-CEO of Greenhouse E3, a national nonprofit who supports and develops aspiring, new and transitioning CEOs of educational organizations across the country. Greenhouse is building a deeply connected national network of education executives who are representative of the students they serve.
James also serves as an executive coach to charter school leaders across the country and as a senior advisor to Strategic Growth Partners, a facilities-strategy and community-integration development firm where he served as co-founder and CEO from 2016-2020. Prior to founding SGP, James was the CEO of Aspire Public Schools. During his tenure, Aspire grew from 17 schools serving just under 6,000 students to 39 schools serving over 15,000 students with annual revenues of $215M. Under his leadership, Aspire was the highest-performing large, high-poverty school system in California.

James is a founding board member of Schoolzilla and Alder Graduate School of Education, two equity-centered organizations that spun out of Aspire during James’ tenure as CEO. Earlier in his career, James was the founding chief operating officer of Education for Change, a principal at New Schools Venture Fund, a consultant at The Bridgespan Group, and a Blackhawk helicopter pilot in the Army.

James is a graduate of West Point, Stanford GSB, and Stanford Graduate School of Education, and a proud father of three daughters who are all successful engineers. James spends his free time as a kitesurfer, windsurfer, wingfoiler, and snowboarder.