My name is Kirsten Hund (pronounced Keer-stin) and I am a life-long educator in Austin, Texas. I currently serve as the Program Director at The Holdsworth Center. THC is an amazing leadership development initiative funded by Charles Butt, the CEO of H-E-B, that will support education leaders in a five year intensive program including superintendents, principals and central office leaders. I really LOVE my H-E-B and after seeing how much they support education, I hope you do too!

Previously, I had the privilege to serve as the Associate Executive Director for Instruction at TEPSA, the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association. My main role was to design and implement professional learning to support the 5800+ elementary school leaders. I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, but came to Texas as soon as I could. I began my career in education after graduating from The University of Texas at Austin in 1996
– Hook ‘Em!

I’ve been working with education leaders since 2008 but I still miss the crazy busy life of campus. (I even miss the hard stuff.) There is no better place to spend your time making a difference than in an elementary school! It is one of the hardest yet most rewarding things you can do. I remember when I was an Assistant Principal I told my husband that even if we won the lottery, I would still do that job because I loved it so much.

I am a proud wife, mother, sister and daughter. My husband and I have two wonderful teenage boys – where does the time go?! Spending time with my people is very important to me, especially since they will be grown and gone in the blink of an eye. We love to travel and spend time outdoors hiking and playing at the beach. I’ve been lucky enough to see some amazing places on this planet including Bali, the British Virgin Islands and Easter Island. I’m not sure there is a better real life education experience for kids than international travel, remind me to share the travel adventure to Easter Island when you have some free time.

I am passionate about creating school systems that are learning organizations for all including staff, students, families and the community. After 20+ years serving Texas students (again where does the time go?!) it is a VERY exciting time to be in education, there are so many ways to connect and learn from experts all around the room, even from the 4 walls of your classroom. I look forward to connecting with you and hopefully sharing an idea or two to help you do great work! Thank you for joining me here and please connect on Twitter to continue the conversation at @khund.