Leadership Austin launched the Fellows pilot in 2018, capitalizing on the talent of semi-retired and retired business and community leaders to build nonprofit capacity. With financial support from the St. David’s Foundation, six Fellows participated in the first cohort, expanding to 10 Fellows in 2019….
Susan McDowell (Essential 19 – 1998) began her Leadership Austin journey with an idea. She finished the program with a plan. Susan and her Leadership Austin cohort built the foundation for what would become the merger of four area nonprofits into LifeWorks, the organization that…
Every spring, Leadership Austin recognizes alumni and community leaders who are serving the region in exceptional ways, and who are committed to our core values of community trusteeship, inclusiveness, collaborative decision-making and personal responsibility. The Outstanding Alumnus award is presented in memory of Polly Scallorn,…
Leadership Austin has graduated more than 2,800 alumni in the past 40 years. At that rate, the odds of connecting with an alumnus is high anywhere you go in the region. That is true at Austin Community College, where 12 current employees completed either the Emerge…
A foundational principle at Leadership Austin is that money should never be a barrier to accessing our high-quality programming. In fact, every year, Leadership Austin awards more than $90,000 in scholarships to participants. The primary source of funding for scholarships is the annual Best Party…
Sam Planta’s path to leadership was an indirect one. A child of the Air Force, Sam had attended 13 different schools by the time he finished high school. He started his undergraduate work at Oklahoma State University but transferred to Southwest Texas State University (now…
Ask any alumnus to describe their Leadership Austin experience, and you’ll frequently hear words like “game-changing”, “transformative” or “life-altering”. That was certainly the case for Ashland Viscosi (Emerge 8 – 2014). Ashland came to Emerge with a background in the creative arts, specifically the film industry….
“I am a proud member of Leadership Austin’s Best Class Ever, the class affectionately nicknamed Y2K because we were the class at the turn of the new century. I’m Judge Lora Livingston and I want to thank and congratulate Leadership Austin for 40 amazing years…