Austin was born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts. The son of a philosophy professor and a business school dean, Austin was reared in a household that emphasized the importance of ethical decision-making in all aspects of life, but especially when placed in a position of leadership or authority. Growing up his parents taught Austin a three-question framework for professional careers: “Does the world need you to do it?”, “Are you good at it?”, and “Will someone pay you to do it?” Armed with this framework, Austin departed the East Coast and enrolled at Stanford University.

While at Stanford, Austin rowed for 4 years on the men’s varsity rowing team. He claimed three Top-10 finishes at the National Championships, and advanced to the semi-finals in the Temple Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta in England. Following his sophomore year he rode his bicycle from Stanford to Boston to raise funds and awareness for the fight against HIV in Rwanda. Over the 4,500 mile trek he and his teammate raised $22,000 and gave countless talks at community centers and organizations across the country.

Following his graduation from Stanford, Austin worked at a Director-level position at a San Francisco-based HIV/AIDS nonprofit. During his two-year tenure, Austin doubled the national chapter membership, increased annual fundraising by 22.5% year-over-year, and built the organization’s first-ever political advocacy campaign. Having grown member participation, fundraising, and programs, Austin felt the call to serve in a different way. He introduced himself to a Marine Corps recruiter and was soon commissioned as a Second Lieutenant.

During his first operational tour, Austin led a rifle platoon across the Indo-Pacific region. In March 2017, his platoon was selected as one of the four conventional military platoons to support the retaking of the Raqqah River Valley in Syria. Following 32 days of continuous combat operations, Austin returned his 46-man platoon to the United States having accomplished the mission while sustaining no casualties. He subsequently served as the Commanding Officer of the battalion's senior company and deployed as its Executive Officer, leading groups of 4 and 150 Marines in various mission sets across Japan, Korea, and Thailand.

Following his operational tour, Austin was the first officer selected from a cohort of 250 candidates to serve on recruiting duty. Austin led the day-to-day operations of Recruiters School which trained 4,500 seasoned Marines for recruiting duty. Austin led the school’s administrative, operational, fiscal, and training arms concurrently. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Austin pioneered a virtual learning platform for the schoolhouse, and renovated the outdated curricula, focusing on new applications of timeless recruiting principles to the 21st century/Gen Z demographic. Austin credits his time at Recruiters School with providing an intimate understanding of the complex operations required to support the recruiting pipeline, personnel management, and driving high-level change through low-level problem identification and solving.

Austin is married to Angelina Cardona Keeley. They met when placed next to each other alphabetically at their graduation from Stanford. Following her graduation from the Yale School of Management in 2016, Angelina worked as a Senior Consultant at Deloitte. After a six year courtship, Austin and Angelina married in August 2017. In 2019, Angelina finished third place on Survivor: David vs. Goliath. She used her winnings to found Miss Limitless, a nonprofit dedicated to closing the gender gap in U.S. politics by empowering the next generation of female leaders. She continues to serve as its CEO to this day.

Austin and Angelina are the proud parents of Sophia, born in February 2020. They are eagerly expecting their second daughter in November 2022.