Staff

Wendy Abrams

Wendy Abrams is an environmental activist and founder of Cool Globes, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of climate change.  Cool Globes originated as a project stemming from the Clinton Global Initiative in 2006.  Designed to utilize the venues of public art and education, the inaugural “Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet” premiered in Chicago in 2007 with more than 3 million visitors.  The exhibition has since traveled to 16 cities on four continents and has been translated into nine languages.

In 2015, Cool Globes launched a campus activist initiative, KNOW TOMORROW, in 2015 with the goal of amplifying the voices of Millennials speaking out on climate change.

Wendy helped to establish the Abrams Environmental Litigation Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School and the Abrams Environmental Research Fellows at the University of Southern California.  Ms. Abrams is a Trustee of Waterkeeper Alliance.  She serves on the board of the Center for American Progress c4, the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund. She is on the RFK Human Rights Leadership Council and Brown University’s President’s Council. In 2014, Wendy established the Redmoon Apprenticeship program to help inner-city youth gain skills for a lifetime of employment.

Ms. Abrams is a principal shareholder of Medline Industries, Inc., the largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of health care supplies in the U.S.  She previously served as Director of Corporate Communications for Medline.

Wendy graduated from Brown University in 1987, and received an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1990.  She lives in Highland Park with her husband, Jim, and their four children.