Abigail Gardner is the principal of Scottie Public Affairs, a strategic communications consulting firm based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Serving clients locally and nationally, Abigail has owned her firm for the past eight years. Prior to that, she was a vice president in the Washington, DC office of the award-winning public relations firm, SKDKnickerbocker. During her dozen years of consulting, she worked with non-profit organizations, companies, authors, political candidates, and public agencies on a range of communications issues. Her clients have been featured in national outlets including CBS Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes, NPR, New York Times, and Vogue. Her clients trust her with a wide range of responsibilities including, consulting on crisis communications issues, event production, debate preparation, speech writing, media training, acting as an on the record spokesperson with the media, managing teams of consultants and paid media campaigns, and much more. Abigail served in Congress as communications director for U.S. Representative Dan Maffei (D-NY) from 2008 to 2010. From 2007 to 2008, she worked in the press office of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer during his brief but memorable tenure. Additionally, over the last twenty years Abigail worked on two presidential campaigns, two statewide campaigns, three congressional campaigns, and several local races in the Pittsburgh area including successful Pittsburgh City Council and Pennsylvania State Senate campaigns. In 2022 she managed the campaign of Congresswoman Summer Lee (D-PA) who became the first Black woman ever elected to the U.S House of Representatives from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. She has done advance work for several Presidential trips and campaign events. Abigail started her career in 2004 as an intern on the Kerry-Edwards campaign where she supported the communications department with special projects, including the DNC 2004 Convention in Boston. She also interned for New York City’s bid in 2005 to host the 2012 Olympics. Abigail earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Virginia. She serves on the board Greater Pittsburgh Women’s Center and Shelter. A Pittsburgh-area native, Abigail is happy to live in the city of Pittsburgh with her husband, Ryan.