Cheryl McAbee

Cheryl R. McAbee serves as Senior Counsel of Hardwick Law Firm, LLC (“Hardwick”). Ms. McAbee has considerable experience in energy, and real estate development. As Senior Counsel, she participates in Hardwick’s Pennsylvania public and private finance, commercial real estate andenergy practices. She began her technical career as a research chemical engineer at Gulf Oil’s (now Chevron’s) worldwide research center. After Gulf Oil closed in Pittsburgh, she began work at Consolidated Natural Gas Transmission (now Dominion Transmission) in the Lease and Right of Way Department, she bought right of way and abstracted title from Maryland to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Then joined Equitable Resources, Inc. (now EQT) and began its environmental law effort for its facilities from Billings, Montana to Alexandria, Louisiana. She then served as an elected official on her Borough Council and was appointed to the Customer Municipality Advisory Committee for the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN).

Prior to joining Hardwick, Cheryl formed a corporation specializing in energy and real estate development issues. She also purchased an inner-city shopping center to redevelop and transform through adaptive-reuse into light industrial. After the Marcellus shale gas seam was discovered in Pennsylvania, Ms. McAbee’s company was asked to join the prestigious Marcellus Shale Coalition.

Some of her previous accomplishments include:

• Serves on the Board of the Eastern Minority Supplier Development Council (EMSDC), certifying all minority companies in PA, DE and Southern NJ
• EMSDC Minority Business Enterprise Company of the Year
• EMSDC Minority Business Enterprise Advocate of the Year
• One of CoStar’s POWER BROKERS of the year, for Pittsburgh leasing transactions
• Settled the largest out of court polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) settlement ever rendered by one of the nation’s top five chemical companies
• Settled the largest PCB settlement for contamination of local distribution company’s facilities spanning the eastern coast of the United States
• Accompanied the U.S. Secretary of Energy and a U.S. delegation to the Republic of South Africa to formulate energy policy for the Republic
• Served on the Board of Directors of the African American Chamber of Commerce
• First African American elected to Churchill Borough Council
• First African American female chemical engineer to graduate from Carnegie Mellon University
• Former President Pittsburgh Chapter of the National Bar Association
• Former member of Board of Directors of Pennsylvania Legal Services