DEI Signature Speaker Series: Inclusivity in the Workplace | April 6, 2021

Abby Churchill (she/her) is a product management consultant with CUNA Mutual Group and an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School. She is also the founding director of Trans Law Help Wisconsin, a pro bono legal project dedicated to providing legal information and resources to transgender and nonbinary individuals across the state of Wisconsin and beyond. Through her work with Trans Law Help Wisconsin, she has been hosting quarterly name and gender marker change clinics around Wisconsin (and now virtually) since 2016. She has provided a wide variety of trainings generally focused on the unique legal issues impacting transgender and nonbinary communities to many different types of audiences, including lawyers, law firm staff, conference attendees, executives, students, healthcare professionals, community members, and more. In her work with CUNA Mutual Group, Abby hosts frequent LGBTQ+ inclusion trainings for internal teams and credit unions alike, and as a member of the LGBTQ+ employee resource group’s leadership team, she often consults with various business areas on opportunities for the business to continue to include and engage transgender and nonbinary communities across the country. 

Abby is a “double Badger,” having graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison for both her undergraduate and graduate studies. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Gender and Women’s Studies and Sociology in 2009, then served two years with the Americorps VISTA program. After Americorps, Abby worked as a paraprofessional in an elementary school in Colorado, then started her law school career at Golden Gate University in San Francisco. Between her first and second year in law school, she transferred to the University of Wisconsin Law School and graduated with her Juris Doctorate in 2015. 

In 2018, Abby was awarded the Legal Innovators Award from the State Bar of Wisconsin and was an ATHENA Young Professional Award nominee. She is a co-author in the State Bar of Wisconsin publication, Changing Times, Changing Law: LGBTQ Issues, has presented for a State Bar seminar and webcast, and has written several articles for Our Lives magazine.

Zach Christensen (he/him/his) is an executive leader with both strategic and technical skills. As a digital marketer, video and virtual engagement producer and credit union fanatic, he has quickly shifted to a virtual environment ensuring execution of initiatives for both his organization and clients. He is the director of diversity, equity and inclusion & digital services at Mitchell Stankovic & Associates driving change in leadership, DEI and strategic planning in this new world. Zach’s volunteer work includes several advisory and leadership roles: Co-founder and director of CU Pride, the first and only industry-wide LGBTQ+ association for credit union professionals for education and engagement within the community. The World Council of Credit Unions premier programs, Global Women’s Leadership Network and World Young Credit Union Professionals.