Ambassador Spotlight: Tom Cottar

The Round Rock Chamber Ambassador Program provides an opportunity for motivated, enthusiastic, and articulate business people to represent the chamber at functions and events across the community. This month’s Ambassador spotlight is on Tom Cottar.

Tom is a native Texan, author, musician, and entrepreneur.  He is a proud graduate of East Texas Baptist University with a double major in Speech Communication and English, as well as a Secondary Education certification. Upon moving to the Austin area in 2003, Tom began serving on staff at First Baptist Church, Pflugerville, in student ministry and music ministry roles. He quickly got plugged into the Austin music scene and garnered several songwriting awards, as well as published his first book, “Unleashing Your Creativity: Lessons From A Reluctant Creative”.

After years of serving in multiple local church and state convention roles, Tom and his wife, Heather, launched Backpack Friends Incorporated in 2018 to combat food insecurity among children in our area. Beginning with feeding twelve children at one local elementary school, the program quickly began to multiply across several campuses. What began with one local school now has footprints across Travis, Williamson, and Burnet counties, ten school districts and more than thirty campuses with the majority of those children being served residing in Round Rock ISD.

Tom has been an Ambassador at the Round Rock Chamber since 2019. His favorite part of being an Ambassador is being a part of the community and the camaraderie found in the Round Rock Chamber.

“It’s a huge inspiration to be able to connect with like-minded leaders and innovators in our area. They’ve impacted me more than they realize, “ he says.

Tom lives in Pflugerville with his wife, three kids, two dogs, and fourteen guitars. He is also a member of the Pflugerville Chamber of Commerce and the Texas Songwriters Association.