AdvantageWest Economic Development is a non-profit organization that was chartered in 1994 by the North Carolina General Assembly to improve the economy of western North Carolina by attracting businesses, corporations, and anyone else who might bring economic growth to the area. The organization covers the twenty-three counties of western North Carolina. The Board of Directors is run primarily by local business leaders, along with some representatives from local colleges.

The Land of Sky Regional Council (LOSRC) is the Region B counterpart to the Southern Commission's Region A. Serving a 4-county area (Buncombe, Madison, Henderson and Transylvania), the Council is comprised of chief elected officials - mayors and county commission chairpersons and alternates - from member governments, one private representative of economic development interests in each county and two at-large members. 

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is a committee that was created by President John F. Kennedy in 1963 to help deal with the issues of poverty and unemployment within the Appalachian Mountains. At the time the commission was formed one in three people living in Appalachia lived below the poverty line and the per capita income was twenty-three percent below the national average. The commission is made up of the thirteen governors of the Appalachian states and a representative from the federal government.