Fun Facts! Over 75% of the leaders Abby works with:

• Successfully take on significantly more responsibility.

• Are recognized and respected both within and outside their company for significant business impact and contribution.

• Substantially enhance their earning potential.

And for Abby’s ‘What’s Next?’ clients, they consistently tell her they are happier, feel more confident in their future, and know they are making a meaningful contribution!

Abby has a wealth of experience working with founders, multi-generational family businesses and CEOs of small and medium-sized companies. Her clients say she’s an excellent listener who quickly understands complex dynamics and is incredibly effective at pulling out key themes and sensing the nuances at play. Abby asks tough questions that lead to deeper clarity, greater insight and a robust action plan.

So, if this is what you're looking for, call or email me. I'm always happy to have a conversation about your specific situation.

Originally from Poughkeepsie, NY, Abby is a 14-year veteran of Procter & Gamble, where she facilitated strategic planning, led category-wide process improvement efforts and managed manufacturing teams. She was also a partner at Sandler Training (Triad) for 9 years. Abby graduated from the University of Florida with a Master of Statistics and from SUNY Albany with a BA in Mathematics.

Abby serves on a number of public, private and nonprofit boards including First Bank (FBNC), ABCO Automation, the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and the Society of Financial Service Professionals (SFSP) where she is Secretary. In 2014, she founded the Succession Planning Roundtable, a forum for sharing best practices among experts in the field.

She’s served as the Chair of the Board of Kindermusik International and in leadership roles with Leadership Greensboro, Women Presidents Organization, and Rotary at the club and district level. In 2022, she was invited to join EWOB (Extraordinary Women on Boards).

Abby was recently honored with the Moyer-Schaaf Distinguished Service Award for her many contributions to the Society of Financial Service Professionals, Greensboro Chapter. She has also been recognized by the Greensboro Chamber and Triad Business Journal with Women in Business awards, as well as several Rotary awards, including a Rotary International Service Award for her innovative Sales and Management Training Fundraisers. These fundraisers raised enough to immunize over 650,000 children against polio.

Abby has been featured in the Triad Business Journal and on Fox 8 Klaussner at the Market. She has been quoted in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine and she is a renowned Triad area speaker on leadership, succession and exit, and improving performance. Abby has presented to many CEO (and other) groups including Vistage International, Mackay CEO Forums, YPO, The Women Presidents’ Organization, and several Industry Peer groups across the country.

Abby works with clients in North Carolina, across the country and around the world. Her work has garnered widespread praise. She is the internationally recognized author of Networking Works! a workbook and training curriculum that offers a strategic process for building a professional network. She also published, 128 Tips to Make you a More Effective Leader and was invited to contribute to the best-selling 1 Habit books: 1 Habit: 100 Habits From The World’s Happiest Achievers, and 1Habit of the World’s Greatest Leaders: Life-changing Habits to Unlock Your True Leadership Potential, compiled by Steven Samblis.

Her book, Straight Talk About Planning Your Succession: A Primer for CEOs, is required reading for Pinnacle Equity Solution’s Exit Planning Certification where Abby is on the faculty as the expert in ‘Mental Readiness’. She received her Value Builder Certification from Value Builder Systems(TM) in 2020 and her Certificate in Exit Planning from the Exit Planning Institute in 2016.

Abby has been happily married to Jim Donnelly for many years! She loves working with talented leaders! She also enjoys networking, reading, working out… and dancing to Motown.