Abbie

Hard work, passion, and a lot of grit fuel most of Abbie's days. She has committed her life to service and empowering others.  

 Her journey as a veteran started at the age of 17 when she joined the Wisconsin National Guard. By 21 she was deployed to Iraq and faced many transitional challenges when she returned home in 2004. It was during this difficult time that Abbie started to find her voice through peer mentoring and volunteer work. IAVA, Vets for Vets and the Dane County Rape Crisis Line were just a few of the many places Abbie loved to give her time. She also traveled throughout the United States talking to other Veterans, civilians, reporters and elected officials all whilst attending Edgewood College in Madison, WI.  

 After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Political Science, she was offered a job as an advocate with the Army’s Wounded Warrior Program. In this role, she worked as a non-clinical case manager for the most severely injured, ill and wounded soldiers as they transitioned out of the Military and back to the state of Wisconsin.  

 In 2011 Abbie was hired on by the Wounded Warrior Project as Manager of Alumni. In this role, she developed and piloted programs, became a certified peer mentor trainer and championed women’s issues in the organization. Her favorite part of the job was building a successful team and getting to know the over 10,000 warriors across her region.  

 After over four years of service with the Project, Abbie moved on to a national position with Dryhootch of America. This small non-profit has been nationally recognized for peer mentoring veterans and championing their causes. Abbie’s leadership, management, and vision assisted in setting up the organization with proper operational controls, administrative and reporting procedures, which enabled them to operate more efficiently.  

 On Veterans’ Day of 2017, Abbie co-founded Phenix Legacy, non-profit that serves military and first responders through peer mentoring, both in and out of the workplace. For the past year Abbie worked at Illinois Joining Forces as their Senior Director of Women’s Programs.

She has testified before congress and is considered a subject matter expert in veteran transitions, women veterans and veteran who have been injured while in service.

 Abbie is a mother of 2 children, Norah (5) and Miles (1) and is happily married to her best friend, Christopher.