In Heather McKissick’s Twitter bio, she describes herself as a “wife, mom and much more.” The “more” part refers to her position as president and chief executive officer of Leadership Austin, a nonprofit organization that ignites passion for community leadership.

McKissick’s daily tweets chronicle her busy life of attending programs hosted by Leadership Austin, interacting with city officials like the police chief, recommending community events, partaking of winter swimming lessons and spending quality “no TV” time with family.

Her ability to juggle all of these responsibilities comes with years of practice. Nineteen years, to be exact.

Before joining Leadership Austin, McKissick was the director of organizational development and education for the Seton Family of Hospitals; before that, she was at the Lower Colorado River Authority implementing plans to improve workplace communication for more than 10,000 employees. It was while she served as the former assistant dean of humanities for St. Edward’s University that she learned about Leadership Austin.

In 1995, St. Edward’s partnered with Leadership Austin to connect with area teens, and McKissick was grateful to get involved. She became a co-chair for Teen Leadership Austin, and was selected to participate in what’s called the Essential Class, the organization’s signature community leadership program since 1979. She says the experience opened her eyes to an entirely different world of community service.

“People I met in the program were genuinely interested in making a difference,” McKissick says. “We explored how community service and relationship-building play a critical role in building business in Austin, where social capital is so highly valued.”

The class also helped McKissick find her passion: leadership development. Three years ago, this passion led her to become a candidate for president of the organization so she could “volunteer for a living.”

Leadership Austin hired McKissick in 2008 as its new president during a very difficult time for nonprofits. While the economic downtown was forcing many nonprofits to downsize, McKissick saw an opportunity to grow. She began implementing basic principles of entrepreneurship at Leadership Austin, and just last year, helped the organization celebrate its most successful financial year of the decade.

McKissick believes her long-time involvement with the organization and practice of its “core values” like inclusiveness, collaboration and personal responsibility have been the key to success.

“The past few years have been like a leadership case study,” she says. “We’re practicing the leadership skills we teach — and they work.”

In 2011, McKissick hopes to focus on Equip, a successful Leadership Austin program she has cultivated over the last three years that goes inside Austin businesses and delivers collaborative leadership skills classes to companies and their employees. She says companies are enthusiastic about working with Leadership Austin because it’s a local nonprofit with a great reputation.

“People know their investment is going back into the community,” McKissick says. “They know we can conduct the training in a way that is unique, high quality and focused on Austin needs.”

For more information, go to www.leadershipaustin.org, or contact McKissick directly at 512-499-0435, ext. 116, or hmckissick@leadershipaustin.org.