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Ernest Fletcher is an international development professional with 15 years’ experience in the planning, implementation, and management of education and public health programs. He has a special interest in program design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation and capacity building. He has worked in Ghana and Mozambique and provided remote vector control program implementation support to countries including Senegal, Madagascar, Burkina Faso, and Sierra Leone. He has worked closely with Ministry of Education (Ghana) and Ministry of Health staff in several countries.

Nichole Fiore is a Principal Associate with over 15 years of experience evaluating housing and homelessness programs across the country, developing deep expertise on homeless service systems, organizational capacity, political and community will, unsheltered homelessness, and permanent supportive housing. Recognizing the critical link between stable, safe housing and overall well-being, Fiore is proven leader bringing together stakeholders who work across many jurisdictions and sectors to address the needs and improve the lives of people experiencing homelessness. She is a regular source for media outlets, often on the topic of homelessness in California.

Dr. Michael Plotzke is a senior health economist with expertise in the area of Medicare payment policy, the organization of healthcare providers and quality measurement. His work typically involves the analysis of large datasets such as Medicare claims, assessment and enrollment data. Dr. Plotzke serves as principal investigator for multiple projects with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.  On the “Home Health Prospective Payment System and Hospice: Analysis Support and Monitoring” project, Dr. Plotzke leads a team of researchers in analyzing trends in Medicare hospice and home health usage and constructing large-scale payment reform options for both benefits.  Dr. Plotzke also leads the “Evaluation of the Medicare Care Choices Model” project that evaluates a new payment model for end-of-life care that is being tested with 141 hospice providers.  This project involves analysis of existing administrative data and collection of new data through surveys of caregivers, surveys of hospice providers and in-depth case studies of hospice providers participating in the model.

Mariandrea Chamorro has 20 years of experience managing international development programs. She has provided oversight for the high-quality and compliant execution of large flagship USAID programs while contributing to business development. Chamorro’s areas of expertise include prevention of vector-borne diseases, infectious diseases, maternal and child health, and health systems strengthening. Her clients have included the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). 

Dr. Heinrich Hock is an economist with 19 years of experience conducting research on labor, education, disability employment, and social insurance. His work focuses on producing results that help policymakers and program staff understand outcomes for priority populations and research-based options for improving outcomes. He develops rigorous and feasible plans for research designs, data collection and analysis, and dissemination of findings. Hock has led work on over a dozen labor-related projects for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and other funders to assess the outcomes for groups such as dislocated workers, youth and adult jobseekers with disabilities, and veterans, among other groups. Hock also has played a key role in U.S. Department of Education (ED) studies to identify solutions for improving career outcomes among special education and adult education participants. 

Brad Smolek is a federal health and defense leader with deep experience in digital modernization and clinical and operational performance improvement.

Melanie Metropolit is a public health strategist with more than 20 years of experience across federal health, research, and international development initiatives.

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.