Kent Abernathy is a husband, father, businessman, veteran, and proud Hoosier.
Following graduation from West Point, Kent spend nearly seven years on active duty.  He then transitioned to the Army National Guard and began a career in commercial banking.  As a vice president for two Indianapolis banks, he gained a comprehensive knowledge and appreciation of the factors that drive successful business and economic growth.
Throughout his business career, he remained active in the Army Reserve and National Guard. In 2003, with Americans defending freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan, Kent felt the call to return to active military service. He took on various leadership roles in the Pentagon, including serving as a Crisis Action Team Chief and Director of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Washington Liaison Office. He urged his superiors to send him overseas and was deployed to Iraq where he served as Chief of Staff for the Iraq Assistance Group.
Kent returned to Indiana and served in the administrations of Governor Mitch Daniels and Governor Mike Pence. During the Pence administration, he was appointed as the 25th Commissioner of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV). Most recently, Kent served as the Executive Director of the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service.
Kent and his wife, Karen, a pediatric critical care nurse, have been married for 39 years and live in Zionsville. Together they have three sons, three daughters-in-law and four grandchildren.
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