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René Nutter is an experienced leader with more than two decades of  history with developing and operating government contracts. She’s also worked with the private sector and foundational work with organizations such as Yale, Harvard, and the Gates Foundation.

Dr. Fiona Mactaggart is a multi-disciplinary technical advisor with more than 10 years of experience in monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL); infectious disease control; and public health. As a co-lead of Abt's MERL portfolio, she draws on complexity theory and scientific methods to help clients test what works, discover why it works, and provide timely evidence-based recommendations to inform important decisions about policy and practice. Mactaggart contributes to business development, programme delivery, and thought leadership. She works in five key areas: monitoring (e.g., design of digital tools and visualisation platforms) research (e.g., cross-sectional survey design), evaluation methodologies (e.g., contribution analysis), learning (e.g., portfolio level evidence-informed strategic decision making), and cross-cutting MERL capabilities (e.g., adaptive management and GEDSI). Mactaggart has worked extensively in the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

Sean McClellan, Ph.D. is a mixed-methods researcher with over a decade of experience in full cycle health services research. He has experience managing research projects, developing analytic designs, cleaning and analyzing administrative data, fielding rigorous surveys, conducting qualitative interviews, and communicating findings in plain language.

Sarah Gibson is a project-management specialist with 23 years of experience in public policy research. She has more than 20 years of experience managing complex projects, implementing random assignment studies and researching and analyzing policy for clients such as the Social Security Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She is proficient in project management, including resource management, budgeting and quality control.

Elizabeth Giardino’s evaluation and technical assistance work on housing, community development, asset building, and government innovation policies and programs promotes opportunity and healthy outcomes for people across the U.S. Giardino specializes in leading teams, strategic planning, and relationship building, and has proven expertise in incorporating community-based participatory research into technical assistance engagements.

Adam Schaefer has over 16 years’ experience developing and managing environmental epidemiology research and evaluation projects. He is an expert in the health impacts of environmental exposures and has worked on both national and international projects, focusing on infectious disease, toxicology, health surveillance, and One Health. Before coming to Abt, Schaefer was a researcher at Florida Atlantic University. He has published numerous epidemiological studies in peer-reviewed journals.

Laura Blake has more than 20 years of experience in leading scientific programs and research in the environmental science and policy domain. She has deep expertise in surface water quality restoration and protection and has spent her career designing and implementing scientific studies to support efforts to protect human health and aquatic environments. She has significant knowledge of Clean Water Act rules and regulations and has extensive experience supporting federal and state regulatory programs with implementation of and compliance with the federal Clean Water Act.

Kate Stillman is a technical leader with more than 25 years of experience in program design, systems thinking, evidence generation and use, monitoring, evaluation and learning, and project management. She has deep experience in global development with specialties in health systems strengthening, infectious and vector-borne diseases, maternal and child health, and sustainability. She drives Abt’s efforts to strengthen the generation, management, and use of high-quality data to inform decisions and improve program quality.

Kristin Heck, JD, MBA, has more than 10 years of experience managing and directing technical teams in the development of digital solutions. Ms. Heck designs and oversees the creation and implementation of technology solutions that align to agency and administration goals. In addition, she often works closely with program leadership to set key solution objectives, manage the development and product roadmap, analyze customer feedback, and prioritize feature development.

Moira Forbes is a health policy leader with over 25 years of experience working with state and federal agencies on Medicaid and CHIP policy and operations. She focuses on providing time-sensitive, evidence-based analysis to support policymaking, operational planning, and program evaluation. She has worked with a wide range of health care stakeholders including providers, employers, public and private payers, foundations, trade associations, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and other health and human services agencies, state legislatures, and Congress. These diverse experiences help her provide well-informed insights for clients at all stages of the program lifecycle.