Abby J Donnelly

CEO Coach Abby Donnelly, president of The Leadership & Legacy Group, is a recognized expert on the leadership, strategy, and people side of succession planning and exit. She works with business owners and CEOs of small, mid-market and multi-generational family businesses, to navigate through the difficult decisions and tough conversations, to achieve the outcomes they want. Abby has the ability to bring clarity and focus to complex situations. She has been described as perceptive, articulate and insightful. She is the published author of several books and is a sought after speaker on the nonfinancial aspects of succession and exit, as well as other leadership topics. Abby has coached hundreds of leaders, and facilitated many strategic planning sessions and CEO peer group meetings for a wide range of organizations. Originally from Poughkeepsie, NY, she started her career at Procter & Gamble where she worked in manufacturing management and as a Global Business Consultant, facilitating strategic planning and leading category-wide process improvement efforts. She left P&G to start her own consulting firm, later becoming a partner at Sandler Training (Triad) where she gained firsthand experience buying and selling an ownership stake in the company. Abby serves on several boards including First Bank (FBNC), Cone Health, Crescent Rotary Club Foundation, and the Greensboro Society of Financial Service Professionals where she received the prestigious SFSP Moyer-Schaaf award for outstanding service. Abby has also been recognized twice as a Woman in Business award winner! Abby is a graduate of the University of Florida with a Master of Statistics. Her undergraduate degree is in Mathematics from the State University of NY at Albany. Abby lives in Greensboro, NC with her husband Jim Donnelly. She loves developing leaders, connecting people who can benefit from knowing each other, … and dancing to Motown.