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Meryl Finkel leads Abt Global’s Housing and Communities Practice, overseeing large-scale housing; community and economic development; and social policy data collection, analysis and technical assistance projects. Clients include the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Corporation for National and Community Service, as well as foundations and state and local governments.

MIchelle Wood has more than 30 years of experience managing large-scale national program evaluations and applied social science research. She has managed several national random assignment studies.Wood is the project director for the Social Security Administration’s Benefit Offset National Demonstration Project. She manages a large team, including subcontractors and consultants, to implement and evaluate a $1-for-$2 benefit offset for the Social Security Disability Insurance program. The project scope of work includes designing and executing large-scale participant outreach and recruitment, implementing secure data systems, managing complex data collection, designing a communications strategy, operating a call center, providing training and technical assistance to local agencies, and documenting the results in process, participation, net impact and cost-benefit analyses. 

Daniel Gubits conducts research in the areas of housing, homelessness, economic self-sufficiency and disability policy. Gubits’ expertise is in econometric modeling, data analysis, and random assignment program evaluation.Gubits serves as the director of analysis for the Family Options Study, conducted for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He is also leading the impact analysis work for the Social Security Administration’s Benefit Offset National Demonstration (BOND) project. Both of these are random assignment impact evaluations.

Lauren Dunton is a Principal Associate with almost two decades of experience as a social science researcher evaluating programs and analyzing policies relating to homelessness, housing, workforce, and education across the country. As a seasoned Project Director, Ms. Dunton has led complex research and technical assistance projects for a range of federal agencies, state governments, and national foundation and philanthropic organizations. She has expertise in qualitative and mixed-method data collection and analysis, leading project teams, and authoring reports. 

Meghan Henry is a social science researcher with over 15 years of experience in public policy and program evaluation, specifically in the fields of housing and homelessness and the intersection of homelessness and education. Henry has extensive experience leading evaluations, including large data collection efforts, conducting qualitative data collection, data analysis, and outcome evaluations. As project director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress, she has considerable experience synthesizing large amounts of information to make the data accessible and actionable for federal, state, local, and philanthropic clients.

Colleen Grogan Moore has over 30 years of experience implementing community development and housing-based programs in collaboration with state and local governments and nonprofit organizations. She has expertise in providing technical assistance (TA) and training, including to recipients of Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) community development, housing, and homeless program funding. She has experience building strong relationships with state and local program grantees and managers and supporting communities in effectively using resources.

Brooke Abrams is a trained political scientist and researcher. With over 11 years of experience, she specializes in applied housing and health, bringing expertise in managing and contributing to place-based, mixed-method, and community-centered solutions. Her work spans research, evaluation, and technical assistance (TA) projects across diverse policy domains, delivering innovative and tailored strategies to drive impactful change.As a Client Solutions Architect at Abt, Abrams plays a pivotal role in designing client-focused frameworks and solutions that emphasize rigorous, data-informed, multi-disciplinary, and population-tailored design. She specializes in community-specific, monitoring, evaluation, and technical assistance approaches to engage and work alongside persons with lived expertise.

Tamara Daley has 20 years of behavioral health, disability, and social-policy project leadership and evaluation experience. She brings expertise from work with a variety of federal agencies, including Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), National Institute of Mental Health, Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Social Security Administration, and Department of state. She also has worked with foundations, city governments, and universities. Daley designs and conducts research in behavioral health, from qualitative and mixed-methods studies and survey design to evaluability assessments.

Andrew Alderdice has more than 35 years of experience working in the health and human services sectors in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific and is currently leading Abt Global’s domestic programs and consultancy practice in Australia.Andrew has worked in a variety of roles, including as a consultant, executive manager and clinician. He has more than 25 years of experience in executive-level positions, including nearly nine years as director of a private management consulting business in Australia. He served as director of the Australian Government-funded health and HIV program in Papua New Guinea. Andrew has been the director of strategy for a regional health service, chief executive officer of a health and aged-care complex and director of a regional community health service.

Katharine Witgert is a health policy researcher with 20 years of public health and health care policy experience. Witgert manages research and analysis of health system innovations, conducting program evaluations for federal clients, including design, implementation, and reporting of findings. She provides technical assistance to state officials, primarily in the areas of Medicaid reforms and building Medicaid agency partnerships with public health, behavioral health, and social services programs.