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Shelby Hickman is a mixed methods research and evaluation professional with 14 years of experience in program evaluation, training and technical assistance, and analysis of criminal and juvenile justice administrative data. Dr. Hickman has expertise in overseeing studies funded by the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. She has experience in causal inference methods for both random assignment and quasi-experimental designs. Additionally, she is proficient in qualitative methodologies, such as semi-structured interviews, focus groups, cognitive interviews, and observations. Hickman is also an expert in forced labor and human trafficking.

Marianne El-Khoury is a seasoned health professional with a proven track record of leading and managing large-scale health programs. At Abt, she has held senior management and technical roles on USG-funded projects in health systems strengthening, infectious diseases, and private sector health. She has also led research and evaluation studies in family planning and reproductive health, maternal and child health, and health financing.

Jeffrey (Jeff) Leone is a senior growth leader with more than 20 years of experience leading growth teams and managing complex business development functions such as capture, bids and proposals, market intelligence and competitive assessment, pipeline development, and sales analytics.  Leone’s experience cuts across a range of U.S. domestic and international development markets at Abt and at large, global companies. 

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. 

Jennifer S. Riggs, Ph.D., brings her extensive research, policy, and nursing experience to improve care for patients, especially older adults. Her clinical area of expertise is Medicare-certified home health and home and community-based care for adults and older adults with multiple co-occurring chronic conditions and complex care coordination needs.

Teresa Mota, BSN, RN is an Associate/Nurse Researcher and a sought-after clinical researcher on federal and state projects emphasizing aging, long-term care, and improving the care experience. Mota has an extensive clinical and health services research background in geriatric nursing, and she specializes in post-acute care, quality improvement (QI) and supporting community-based providers and stakeholders to assist them in the identification of best-practices, develop resources and tools, communications, and implementation of QI initiatives. Mota also participates in data collection, measurement, analysis, and reporting related to these programs.

Hanna Kovalova is a program manager with 15 years of experience managing humanitarian aid and development programs in Ukraine, with a recent focus on the eastern part of the country ravaged by the war with Russia. She has worked with international organizations, including the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the United Nations, as well as social enterprises. Kovalova’s work with vulnerable populations has centered around gender equality, non-discrimination, conflict sensitivity, and social inclusion. She has extensive experience with monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning approaches; program management; and communication strategies in public health, mental health, and community stabilisation.

Brian Chirwa is an agricultural and environmental scientist with over three decades worth of experience working on projects funded by the World Bank, the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), the Environmental Council of Zambia, and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). He brings 18 years’ experience on PMI-funded projects focused on indoor residual spraying (IRS) and insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and has provided technical leadership, assistance, and high-level management for country-wide Zambian IRS and ITN campaigns. Brian also has three decades' worth of experience designing environmental information systems (EIS) for public organizations.

Tenly Snow is a senior digital solutions specialist with 15 years of expertise in digital transformation, supply chain management, and strategic solutioning. Her extensive collaborations span governmental, private sector, and non-profit organizations across the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Europe. Through her work with USAID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Bank, Snow has spearheaded innovations in software development and digital health, significantly enhancing health system resilience and pandemic preparedness on a global scale.

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.