Elizabeth Awbrey: A Government Nerd Finds Her Calling in Public Service

Elizabeth Awbrey is a self-described “government nerd.”

Awbrey graduated with a degree in political science and government from Berry College in 2000. At the time, she planned to attend law school and eventually become a judge.  However, after working in law firms during college, she quickly realized that the traditional legal career path was not the right fit for her.

“I was passionate about politics, government and understanding how it all worked,” Awbrey says. “That never changed.”

It may seem fitting, then, that her career would lead her to public service. But she took a little bit of a detour to get there.

Awbrey is the current director of human resources and risk management with the City of Sandy Springs, Ga., serving in that position since October 2024. She was previously the human resources director with the City of Johns Creek, Ga., working in that capacity for nearly three years.

Awbrey’s resume also includes several HR-related roles—director of HR, group manager of HR and learning and development, and senior training specialist, for example—in the private sector, dating back to the early 2010s.

Before all that, though, Awbrey worked in the legal profession, first as a paralegal with private law firms. She moved on to serve as a general liability paralegal with the Home Depot. That position proved to be her entry point to the HR profession.

“I realized I wanted to become involved earlier, before every customer service issue developed into a potential lawsuit,” she explains. “Once I decided that law school was no longer the right path for me, I saw an opportunity to make a greater impact through training, employee development and problem-solving.”

Awbrey discovered that she had a natural instinct for training and development. She helped transition a customer service team from an overseas operation to an in-house model, an experience that marked the beginning of her human resources career.

In June 2008, Awbrey took a role as a training specialist at Home Depot, facilitating new hire training and refresher training for a customer care team of more than 300 associates. Two years later, she was promoted to senior learning specialist, where she led four training specialists in delivering training for those same associates.

Years later, while serving as an HR Director for an Atlanta-based nonprofit hospitality organization, Awbrey discovered an opening with the City of Johns Creek, “a relatively new city in metro Atlanta,” she says.

“I remember wondering how I had never considered local government before.”

Awbrey decided it was time to take the leap, and she was fortunate enough to be selected for the position.

“I have not looked back since,” she says now. “Public-sector HR brought together everything I had done throughout my career: legal work, customer service, employee development, government and risk management. Suddenly all of the pieces fit together.”

For Awbrey, the opportunity to support public employees has given her work an even greater sense of purpose.

“There is something incredibly rewarding about supporting the employees who serve and protect their community every day,” continues Awbrey. “Public servants are a unique group of people, and the commitment they bring to their work is difficult to fully understand until you have the privilege of working alongside them.”

Awbrey joined PSHRA as a member in August 2019, as she prepared to transition to the public sector.

PSHRA “provided access to the national perspective, professional resources and practical knowledge I needed to better understand the unique responsibilities of public-sector HR,” she says.

The Association has also become “an invaluable source of connection” for Awbrey, providing her with opportunities to build relationships with other public sector HR leaders locally and nationally.

She looks forward to continuing to expand that network in the days ahead.

“Just as importantly,” says Awbrey, “I want to mentor and develop my team by ensuring they have access to the opportunities, experiences and support they need to grow in their own careers. My goal is to build a team that feels prepared, challenged and confident in its ability to serve the organization and the community.”