Through conversations with her manager at SCS Engineers and networking/professional development opportunities hosted by the Learning Guild and the Association for Talent Development (ATD), Abby has learned leadership in the learning and development (L&D) industry is not defined by the capacity to manage direct reports. Abby continues to refine her technical skills and deepen her business acumen as she forges her own leadership path in the L&D space. As an instructional designer for SCS Engineers, Abby conducts exemplary needs assessments and effectively collaborates with her team to problem solve on a variety of learning challenges. While she enjoys building learning assets using Articulate, Vyond, and Camtasia, Abby most enjoys ideating with her manager on performance objectives, defining assessment metrics, and determining the optimal delivery methodology for the stakeholder’s learning need.  Abby is researching how businesses can effectively evaluate the technical and professional competencies of instructional designers, how L&D professionals evaluate business KPIs with xAPI, and defining the role of L&D professionals in organizational change management. In her work and research, Abby leverages her master’s in education from Santa Clara University, her bachelor’s in history from Bryn Mawr College, and her six years of teaching AP US History at Notre Dame High School in downtown San Jose, California.