Pete and Tomi Winstead
Pete and Tomi Winstead have devoted their lives to serving the people of the Greater Austin community. As founding shareholder of Winstead PC, Pete Winstead spent his early professional career in the field of federal taxation and related matters and later served early stage and start-up companies to provide mentoring on financial backing, management procurement, and legal matters, including the initial public offering (IPO) for Dell Computer in 1988.
In 1997, Pete was appointed by Governor Bush to be the first chair of the Texas Turnpike Authority. He has chaired the boards of the Austin Chamber, the Real Estate Council, the United Way, St. Edward’s University, the Crime Commission, and KLRU Public Television. For his involvement in civic, political, and philanthropic matters in the Austin area, Pete has received numerous accolades. He was named one of the 25 most influential people in Austin and was elected “Austinite of the Year” by the Chamber in 2002. He received the 2d “Jurisprudence Award” in Austin from the Anti-Defamation League.
Tomi has served on the advisory boards of Chuy’s Children Giving to Children Parade and Palmer Drug Abuse Program. She served on the boards of CASA, Austin Family House, KLRU Public Television, and chaired the board of Ronald McDonald Charities of Central Texas. She co-chaired the capital campaign to build the new Ronald McDonald House on the Dell Children’s Hospital campus and served on the Moving Forward Campaign Committee for KLRU’s new home at ACC Highland Campus. Tomi has repeatedly volunteered on fundraising for the Boy Scouts, KLRU Public Television, Ronald McDonald House, Safe Place, the Anti-Defamation League, and Caritas of Austin.
Pete and Tomi were founding members of KLRU’s Producer’s Circle major donor program and co-chaired the 50th Anniversary of Public Television KLRU event.
In recognition of their contributions, in 2002 the Boy Scouts of America awarded Pete and Tomi Winstead their Distinguished Citizen’s Award — marking history as the first couple to receive the recognition. They were honored by Caritas of Austin with the Harvey Penick Award for “Excellence in the Game of Life” in 2017.
They celebrated their 42nd wedding anniversary in April. They have 5 children and 10 grandchildren.