Stacey Y. Abrams is State Representative for the 84^th House District of the Georgia General Assembly, where she serves on the following committees:  Code Revision, Defense and Veterans Affairs, Judiciary Non-Civil and Ways and Means.  She is also Campaign Committee Chair for the House Democratic Caucus. She also chairs the House Democratic Caucus Policy Committee on Ways and Means.  Stacey is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of the Insomnia Group, a firm specializing in development, investment and consulting for complex infrastructure projects, including hydro-credit and water management strategies, waste-by-rail transfer and redevelopment of closed landfills. She is also co-founder and COO of Nourish, Inc., a beverage company with a focus on infants and toddlers.  Formerly, Stacey was Deputy City Attorney for Government Counsel, Development and Infrastructure for the City of Atlanta.  Prior to her tenure at the City, she was Special Counsel at the Sutherland Asbill & Brennan law firm in Atlanta, with a focus on tax-exempt organizations, health care and public finance.

Stacey is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a 2007 Next Generation Fellow of the American Assembly, a 2004 American Marshall Memorial Fellow and an alumnus of the 2004 Class of Leadership Georgia, the 2004 Class of Leadership Atlanta and the 2005 Class of Regional Leadership Institute.  She also served as a Georgia delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention.  She has received the Stevens Award for Outstanding Legal Contributions and the Elmer Staats Award for Public Service, both national honors presented by the Harry S. Truman Foundation.  In 2008, she was honored as a Champion for Georgia Cities by the Georgia Municipal Association, and as Going for the Goal Woman of the Year.  She received the Georgia Legislative Service Award by the Association County Commissioners Georgia, the Democratic Legislator of the Year by the Young Democrats of Georgia, and an Environmental Leader Award from the Georgia Conservation Voters for her legislative service in 2009.

She was chosen in January 2005 by Atlanta Woman magazine as one of its “25 Power Women to Watch.”  In addition, she was selected for Georgia Trend’s “40 Under 40” list of young Georgia leaders and for the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “Top 50 Under 40” list of metro-Atlanta young leaders in 2004. In 2005 and 2006, she was noted as one of Georgia’s Rising Super Lawyers by Atlanta Magazine and Law & Politics Magazine.  This follows recognition in 2003 as one of 16 “legal phenoms” by the Fulton County Daily Report, and as one of ten Outstanding Young Atlantans for 2002.  In December 2001, she was featured as one of the “30 Leaders of the Future” for Ebony Magazine.  Stacey was selected as a Salzburg Seminar Fellow by the international organization for her work in youth development and civic participation in 2000 and as a Freeman Fellow on U.S.-East Asian Relations in 2002. She is also a 1994 Harry S. Truman Scholar. 

She has published articles on issues of public policy, taxation and nonprofit organizations, including pieces with The American Prospect, The Christian Science Monitor, Yale Law and Policy Review, and the Southern University Law Review.  She is also an editor of and contributor to the acclaimed project Content of Our Character: Voices of Generation X-Collected Essays on Ethical Leadership in the 21st Century.  Stacey has taught courses on law and social policy at Yale University and Spelman College. Under the pen name Selena Montgomery, Stacey is the award-winning author of several suspense novels for HarperCollins and St. Martin’s Press.

Stacey currently serves on the Board of Trustees for St. Joseph’s Health System, the Boards of Visitors for Emory University and Agnes Scott College, the Boards of Directors for Literacy Action and the Gateway Center for the Homeless. She is a member of the advisory boards of Branan Towers Senior Facility of Wesley Woods Foundation and HSTAT—Health Students Taking Action Together. Her previous service includes Chair of the Board of Directors for Hands On Atlanta and Chair of the Women’s Legacy Group for the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta.

Stacey received her J.D. from the Yale Law School.  She graduated from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin with an M.P.Aff.  in public policy. She earned a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies (Political Science, Economics and Sociology) from Spelman College, magna cum laude.