Abigail (Abi) Ridgway, MBA, MPH is a Managing Director at FSG and leader of the firm’s U.S. Health Practice, bringing over 15 years of experience helping foundations develop strategy, conduct evaluations, and build the cross-sector coalitions needed to drive lasting change. She has partnered with national and place-based foundations alike including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Commonwealth Fund, California Health Care Foundation, Missouri Foundation for Health, Interact for Health, and Kaiser Permanente on some of the most complex health challenges facing communities today, from youth mental health and childhood asthma to diabetes prevention and health equity. Among her signature accomplishments, she developed a statewide ACEs framework that led to the creation of a first-of-its-kind Office of Resilience, launched a childhood asthma coalition in Dallas that reduced emergency room visits by 50%, developed a shared measurement system and peer learning cohort to advance mental health in high risk communities in the mountain west, and facilitated the development of a 10-year behavioral health strategy co-funded by 14 foundations in Cincinnati. She is a frequent speaker at national convenings and a published author, including FSG’s Being the Change, a seminal study on how foundations are evolving their internal practices to match their ambitions.
Before FSG
Before joining FSG, Abi held consulting and analytical roles across the health sector, including strategy work at McKinsey & Company, health policy research at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and operations improvement at Kaiser Permanente. She also served as a Fulbright Scholar in Mexico, leading a search for innovative social entrepreneurs across seven countries.
Education
- University of California – Berkeley, Haas School of Business, MBA
- University of California – Berkeley, School of Public Health, MPH
- Dartmouth College, BA in Economics, magna cum laude
Languages
- Fluent in Spanish
On Working At FSG
FSG is tackling the most difficult challenges of our generation by harnessing the power of corporations to solve social problems at a large scale, by helping organizations work collectively for greater impact, and by guiding effective philanthropy. I am honored to be a part of this team of incredibly bright, driven individuals who use analytical rigor and strategic thinking to turn cutting edge ideas into action with tangible results.
