Abbi Peters is the EVP of Operations for the PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship. She brings 20 years of experience within the creative economy to the Center’s leadership team and played a crucial role in establishing the programs that drive the PA Wilds Center’s place-based entrepreneurial ecosystem.  Throughout her career, Peters has demonstrated her commitment to and passion for the arts and humanities, valuing the role that the creative industry plays concerning economic development in rural communities across Appalachia. A recent graduate of the Appalachian Leadership Institute, Abbi is especially eager to put her experiences to work in her local community as an elected official. Abbi lives the dream of creative placemaking as she and her husband restore a 10,000 square-foot schoolhouse that serves as their home, work studio, and eventually a space for visiting artists.