Leslie Abbey ’90 will deliver this year’s Thomas B. McCabe Lecture, “Building Scaffolding: A Journey in Social Entrepreneurship,” at Garnet Weekend on Oct. 25.

Abbey, the CEO of Hot Bread Kitchen and member of Swarthmore’s Board of Managers, will reflect on her journey in social entrepreneurship and the lessons she learned from building organizations that strengthen the scaffolding people need to thrive. Drawing from experiences in founding Family Legal Care, co-creating Anthos Home, and leading Hot Bread Kitchen, she highlights how innovation can help turn questions into action, fill systemic gaps, and scale solutions that bring stability, dignity, and belonging to families and communities.

Through stories of resilience spanning legal care, housing, and workforce development, Abbey demonstrates how convening diverse perspectives, applying critical thinking, and allowing space for failure are essential to creating lasting change. At its heart, her talk bridges Swarthmore’s liberal arts values with the spirit of social entrepreneurship. While no single discipline or individual has all the answers, coming together allows us to multiply impact and reimagine what is possible.

Abbey became CEO of Hot Bread Kitchen in 2022. Prior to that, she was the deputy executive director and chief operating officer at Covenant House, New York, and held commissioner and director positions for the New York City Administration for Children’s Services. From 1997-2007, she was an attorney for The Legal Aid Society of New York City and Lawyers Alliance for New York. She has chaired the Council on Presidential Initiatives and the Building an Inclusive Community Task Force at Swarthmore, and also hosted externs and served as an Admissions interviewer.

Abbey earned a B.A. with Honors in social sciences with a concentration in women's studies at Swarthmore, followed by a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1995. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children.

The Thomas B. McCabe Lecture is an annual event that brings individuals with distinguished careers in varied fields to speak on campus for Garnet Weekend. Click here for more information on past speakers and videos of their lectures.