Mike Nellis

Mike Nellis is the President and CEO of Austin Community Foundation, a 42-year-old institution focused on making Austin a better place for everyone. The Foundation has nearly doubled its assets under his leadership and distributes more than $30 million to nonprofits annually. Since coming to the Foundation in 2014, Nellis has boosted fundraising and launched and grown high impact community development initiatives. In addition, he launched FundATX, a multi-million dollar fund designed to deploy investable capital into the local community. Nellis leverages resources and works with a broad spectrum of stakeholders as a convener on issues and challenges facing the Austin and the region. 

Nellis led the decade-long strategic reorganization of the downtown children’s museum into the Thinkery, a leader in science, technology, engineering and math education located in the Mueller neighborhood. Before joining the museum, he directed program development and consulting services for Greenlights, then a start-up nonprofit management service organization. Prior to moving to Austin in 2001, Nellis spearheaded the regional expansion of Tides, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that connects donors and doers around common issues and goals.