Bio

Abby Verdillo Hamilton is a nonprofit Executive with 23 years of experience developing and empowering high-performing teams to drive transformational social change.  She is a native of the Philippines, and moved to Roanoke in 2002 to join her parents who had immigrated to the US several years prior.  Abby started working at United Way of Roanoke Valley that same year and took on positions in both Resource Development and Community Impact there over the years. In January 2020, she was appointed as the President and CEO of United Way of Roanoke Valley, after having served as the Vice President for Community Impact for the organization for 9 years.  With 20 years of service to United Way under her belt, she currently provides leadership and overall direction as staff, volunteers, and stakeholders working together to deliver on United Way’s vision to “elevate 10,000 families to self-sufficiency by 2030.”  

Abby has spent over a decade building and growing various collaborations among multiple organizations to achieve community wide outcomes in areas like early childhood success, financial stability, and health.  Her distributive leadership style, natural inclination for engaging diverse audiences, and collaborating with others has successfully driven the development and growth of local and regional partnerships. These various community collaborative efforts have been recognized for its exemplary demonstration of innovation and effectiveness at the state and national levels. 

With the nation still navigating the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, United Way, under her leadership, has been working closely with local and state leaders in nonprofit, business, local government, healthcare, and schools to strategize and coordinate COVID-19 response, recovery, resiliency, and rebuilding efforts.  As one of a handful of Asian United Way CEOs in Virginia and in the national United Way network, Abby has also made it a priority to develop a culture of innovation, continuous learning, as well as trauma and equity informed practice within her team, and in United Way.  UWRV was recently recognized as the 2021 Nonprofit of Year by the Salem-Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce as a result of these efforts; and Abby will be one of the recipients honored during the 22nd Annual Citizen of the Year Awards of the Roanoke Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in May. 

Abby has a Bachelor’s of Science in Agriculture from the University of the Philippines, a Masters in Nonprofit Management from Regis University in Colorado, and a Certificate in Leadership from the Hollins University - Batten Leadership Institute.