2025 40 Under 40: Abbye Bobbett

After five years as an architect at family-owned Torgerson Design Partners, Abbye Bobbett took a professional leap in 2022 by helping launch Kinetic Design and Development.

The career move is paying dividends for the architectural firm she formed with her husband, Griffin, and Adam Kreher, as Kinetic has wrapped over 1,000 projects and grown to roughly 50 employees operating in its own building..

As Kinetic’s chief operating officer, Bobbett, 33, says starting the firm is her proudest professional accomplishment. Additionally, she is teaching the next generation of architects as an adjunct professor at Drury University’s Hammons School of Architecture.

Bobbett embraces community service at her firm via its Kinetic Kares initiative, a quarterly program to give back through donations and volunteerism.

What did you learn the hard way? How to live a life by design instead of by default. I learned in the last year how not to handle my schedule. I was just letting everything (appointments, client meetings, check-ins with staff) fill up my calendar instead of being intentional and designing the perfect week around my mission and purpose. After learning that lesson (suffering from a bout of extreme burnout), now I am intentional; I schedule literally everything because I know when things pop up what I’m saying no to if I shift gears from what is scheduled. It allows me to be strategic with my time and design my time around my energy and my priorities.

Most treasured possession? My faith. It’s the center of everything I do and want to do in the future and informs my passion and purpose.

Favorite hobby or creative outlet? Architecture Legos.

Favorite local food order? Salted caramel pretzel concrete from Andy’s.