Allison Galbraith

From the orchards of Carroll County to the farms and trotlines of the Eastern Shore, anyone who has ever traveled across Maryland’s first district knows that it is not like other districts. Allison is ready to tackle our unique challenges and fight for working families and small businesses—not special interests.

I was born in Baltimore and grew up in historic Bel Air, right here in Maryland’s First District.

Today I own a small business that helps growing companies bid on federal contracts. My clients are primarily Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB) seeking Department of Defense (DoD), Veterans Affairs, or Health and Human Services contracts. In addition to my business development and proposal work, I provide part-time acquisition and program management expertise to a DoD research and development program through one of my SDVOSB clients. Having been married to an Army Veteran, my goal is always to help deliver the best possible capabilities to our Service-members, as quickly as possible, while ensuring the most responsible use of our taxpayer dollars.

I specialize in streamlining, helping to navigate complex regulations and processes, find new or tailored approaches, and coordinate ideas through the many stakeholders and layers of approval involved. I have supported many different federal programs and portfolios - information systems, medical development, rapid development programs, and more. They spanned all stages of development, and multiple organizational levels. While these were all very different efforts, they shared a common challenge; they were nontraditional. The guidelines weren’t written for these programs. The “traditional” approach didn’t work.

I believe this same problem exists in our district - we are not the same as other Maryland districts. If we want Washington to work for us (and we do!), we need to try something new.
We need an approach focused on the people, and our well being. We need our goals to revolve around our needs. We need a representative who understands the challenges most people face, one who makes addressing these challenges and working to fix them the highest priority.

What inspires Allison:
• Allison is one of four children raised by two college professors. Allison attend Harford Community College and University of Maryland, College Park. She graduated without loans. She has paid for her graduate coursework, also at University of Maryland, College Park, out of pocket. Allison knows she was lucky to have free or reduced tuition for her undergraduate work because of her parents, and believes everyone deserves the opportunity to graduate from college debt-free.
• Her mother, who was raised in Seaford, DE, was a nurse turned educator who spent most of her professional career working to provide educational opportunities to working professionals. She focused her research in healthcare for all and addressing the lack of diversity and critical shortages in the nursing and healthcare workforce. She worked to establish the Health Systems Management Program at University of Baltimore and the Nursing Program at Morgan State University.
• Her father, who was raised Queens, NY, went to Chili with the Peace Corps. He taught English and Spanish at Harford Community College for 45 years.
• Allison graduated from Bel Air High School, Harford Community College, and University of Maryland, College Park, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy.
• Allison's graduate coursework at the University of Maryland is in public management and policy. Allison holds professional certificates in FDA regulatory affairs, Program Management, FDA Good Manufacturing Processes, Life Cycle Logistics, and Test and Evaluation
• Allison was married for ten years to a U.S. Army veteran and helicopter mechanic, from whom she is now amicably separated. They live in the same school district and work together to raise their amazing son, Ben.
• Allison and her family lost insurance for a time in 2009 and while Ben was able to be covered under MCHIP, Allison had to buy expensive private market insurance to remain covered. Thanks to Obamacare, Allison was able to launch her own business, confident her and her son's health care needs would be met.
• Allison has worked on programs for the DoD in Information Systems, Medical Countermeasures, sensors, and disablement systems for Chemical and Biological Defense, Medical Research and Development for Defense Health Agency, and a multi-billion dollar quick reaction capability intelligence and electronic warfare program for the Army.