Abbey Smanik is a senior project manager for the Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population at the Urban Institute, where she provides project and operations management expertise to support the center's researchers. 

Previously, Smanik was a senior analyst at a boutique consulting firm, where she focused on project management, data analysis, and program evaluation. Before that, she was a project manager at a national education policy nonprofit.

Smanik graduated summa cum laude from the College of Wooster with a BA in political science. She also holds an MPA from the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at the Ohio State University.