Julia Abate currently serves as the Executive Director for The Ergonomics Center of North Carolina. She holds a masters degree in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan and is certified by the Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics (CPE).

Prior to her current assignment, Ms. Abate worked for ten years at SAS institute in Cary, NC as a Senior Ergonomics Specialist. Prior to that she served as a Senior Ergonomist at The Ergonomics Center and an Ergonomics Project Manager at Sandalwood Enterprises in Farmington Hills, MI.

Ms. Abate also serves on as the Chairperson of the Applied Ergonomics Conference and is a frequent speaker at the regional and national level on successful ergonomic process implementation.