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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.

Austin Gooden is a software architect at TSPi, a Division of Abt Global, with 6 years of experience delivering innovative software solutions in the public sector. With expertise spanning the entire Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Gooden has worked across a broad range of technologies, from Low-Code/No-Code platforms to legacy frameworks and multiple programming languages.  He has successfully delivered a variety of solutions for the U.S. Federal Government that enable systems to adapt seamlessly to congressional mandates, agency policies, and program definition, all while achieving the mission objectives of the IT initiative.

Lauren Pittenger comes to Abt with more than 20 years of experience working in or as a consultant to federal government agencies. She has strong grounding in research and research-based consulting to government clients. She also has extensive experience leading and growing business, managing technical and scientific projects, and coaching and supporting account teams. She has served as a director at Guidehouse, scientific program manager at Booz Allen Hamilton, and lab manager at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She has worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network, the Gates Foundation and the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

ZeAmma Brathwaite has over 20 years of experience partnering with private organizations and federal agencies to improve access to care and health outcomes for individuals and communities. A certified project management professional, Brathwaite has extensive experience leading multidisciplinary teams in the design, implementation, and evaluation of complex, large-scale transformation efforts using improvement science methods and tools to accelerate change.

Dr. Reerink has more than 25 years of experience in promoting gender equality and social inclusion in international development, with a strong focus on the Asia-Pacific region.

Douglas W. Elmendorf, Ph.D., is Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He served as Dean of the Kennedy School from 2016 to 2024 and was previously Director of the Congressional Budget Office from 2009 to 2015.Elmendorf has held senior economic positions with the Federal Reserve Board, the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and the Treasury Department, where he was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy. He is a widely respected economist who has deep knowledge of many of Abt’s core research areas, including health care policy and approaches to increasing economic security.Elmendorf is the author of more than 30 publications and has testified before Congress on economic issues 50 times since 2005. 

Michael R. Anderson is Chief Executive Officer of MedAccess, a not-for-profit social-finance company based in London. He has expertise in global development, health, nutrition, and climate issues. Anderson has worked in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors in Africa, the Middle East, and India. He held multiple roles within the U.K.’s Department for International Development (DFID) from 2003 to 2013, the final one being Director General . He subsequently became the first salaried CEO of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, one of the largest philanthropies in Europe. 

Jake Zebell is a technology leader with more than 20 years of experience in federal modernization, enterprise architecture, applied AI, and secure system delivery.

Baris Yener has more than 25 years of experience in executive leadership, growth strategy development, and organizational transformation. His business-development and project work has involved a wide range of clients, including the World Bank, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other private sector and federal agencies.As Chief Client Officer at Abt, Yener leads client strategy and growth to ensure the voice of the customer drives investment decisions, capability development, and market execution. 

Chris Long has over 35  years of management consulting and service delivery expertise in the public-sector market. At Abt, he is focused on shaping and driving delivery of strategy and transformation solutions to our clients. He provides executive oversight of operations, growth, delivery, and innovation, while fostering collaboration enterprise-wide.