By hammer and nails, Habitat exec helps communities prevail

It's a long way from selling business forms in New York to building homes in Las Vegas, but it's a journey Guy Amato spent his career making.

Since he moved here from the Empire State 17 years ago, Amato has worked for industries as diverse as the high-tech sector and commercial real estate. Lately, he's turned all that experience into turning around the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

When Amato started at Habitat in April 2005, the nonprofit had one local full-time employee, operated out of 400 square feet of space and half-completed just two homes in the fiscal year.

Four years later, the organization has 10 full-timers and a 15,000-square-foot center featuring both offices and its Restore retail concept, through which it sells donated home-building materials from Lowe's and from locals renovating homes. The Restore covers 60 percent of the nonprofit's overhead. A second planned Restore in southeast Las Vegas could open by fall; both stores could finance all of Habitat's local overhead, allowing every donor dollar to go directly to building houses.

Habitat will have built 10 homes in fiscal 2009 by the time the year ends June 30, up from seven homes in fiscal 2008. The group has built more than 30 homes in depressed West Las Vegas, with at least seven to nine more homes planned in coming years.

When he's not helming Habitat, Amato maintains a side career as a professional blues guitarist, playing at events ranging from the 1965 World Fair in New York to the 2005 Monterey Blues Festival in California.

Question: You've said your time at Nevada Title taught you how to do business the right way and how to do business in Las Vegas. What's different about doing business in Las Vegas?

Answer: There are a couple of things about a town that's this size and isolated. People are more accessible here. I lived and worked in Manhattan, and if you didn't go to the right school or belong to the right fraternity, there were people you just couldn't get in to see. Here, you run into (former Nevada Gov.) Kenny Guinn pumping gasoline, or you run into people at Parent Teacher Association meetings or Little League games.

Also, we were selling title services, but people were really buying relationships. We were introducing people who could do business together so they could gain something. Terry (Wright, chairman of Nevada Title) was all about creating opportunities for others to be successful. It's a great philosophy, and something I've carried over into my management style. My role is to make sure people have the resources, freedom and vision to do the best job they can. Nevada Title wasn't about filling coffers and getting a notch in the belt. It was about creating opportunities for others. If you can do that, people will find you and do business with you.

Question: How did you end up at Habitat for Humanity?

Answer: I was familiar with Habitat from my title company days, because a board member had come to us for help. Later, I got very ill and spent a month in the hospital. I started re-evaluating things. I always wanted to run my own company. After I left the hospital, Habitat for Humanity asked me if I'd consider being executive director. I thought about it for a while. One night, at 2 a.m., I bolted up in bed and said, "If I took that job, it would give me every opportunity to build an organization and create a culture I wanted to work in." My agenda was about growing the organization and making it self-sustaining. I wanted a culture where people could do their best job, and we could leave a legacy that would contribute to the community for many years.

Question: How is leading Habitat different from your prior jobs?

Answer: We're a development company, a mortgage company, a social service agency and a retail outlet, so I'm running four businesses. Because it is a nonprofit, I'm dealing only with people who want to volunteer, donate or give us something. I see only the very best part of people. It's significant work. Not only do we help a family get a house, but we provide opportunities for thousands in the community to volunteer. We've logged almost 30,000 volunteer hours in the fiscal year.

Question: Have you met former President Jimmy Carter, who's so involved with Habitat for Humanity?

Answer: I met him when he came here for a book signing, around the time his son (Jack) was running for the Senate (in 2006). I was just one guy in the line of people to meet him. We brought him a hat and a T-shirt, but we had to hand it to the (Secret Service) guy next to him.

I have tremendous respect for Jimmy Carter. He is the face of Habitat. But the founder, Millard Fuller, who just passed last month, is the guy who made this happen. The thing that makes Habitat work is that the people who will live in the house help build it. And we have a lot of social impact by transforming lives.

With one family we just put in a house, their little girl didn't speak for two years. The family came in and out of Shade Tree. They got into our program, and the kid was in here the other day bouncing around, laughing and singing. It was a complete transformation. Another family we placed in Henderson had a child confined to a wheelchair, and she wouldn't speak. Today, she's Chatty Cathy. There's finally some stability in her life.

On framing day, the president of MGM Mirage might be working next to a hotel housekeeper, and they're both working with the future homeowner. You come off that job site a different person, because you're working side by side with people doing something productive and working with the people who will benefit.

Question: You still make time to play blues music professionally. Why?

Answer: It's like smoking. It's a bad habit! Actually, I play because it's so much a part of who I am. Music creates a different environment, another geography to wander around in. It's a great form of expression and a great way to understand American culture.

Question: How has the economy changed things at Habitat?

Answer: We're looking at costs very closely. Our health plan is up for renewal, and we have a 401(k) plan and hourly workers, all of which we'll look at closely.

Corporate sponsors for homes have disappeared. I've learned more about faith in the last four years than I learned in my entire career. When I first started, we made commitments and got land with no idea where the money to finish building would come from. We still don't know sometimes, but it always comes. I stand at the door saying, "I need four things," and I walk out at the end of the day with five. We've been able to accomplish everything we set out to do, out of faith that people will come together at the right time. It has happened week after week, month after month, and there's no reason to think it won't keep happening.

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.