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Kathleen Flanagan is president and chief executive officer of Abt Global. She assumed the position on October 1, 2009, after a distinguished career working across the broad range of markets and policy areas that reflect the company's business today. Flanagan joined the company in 1983 as a policy analyst in the Health Area. In 1989 she became managing vice president of the company's Labor Economics Research Area, overseeing research on workforce development and income security programs. In the mid-1990s she launched the International Workforce and Education Practice, winning projects from clients including the U.S. Agency for International Development, World Bank and U.S. Department of Labor. In 1998, she launched the company's Housing and Community Revitalization practice and built a team of more than 75 researchers and technical assistance staff working on affordable housing and community development policies at the federal, state and local levels. In 2005, she was named group vice president for social, economic, and health policy.

Alan White is a nationally renowned health economist, highly respected for his rapid response to clients’ complex information and research needs with data-driven, creative solutions. As the senior health economist for the Health Policy Practice, he leads high-profile projects and guides the practice’s health economists.

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.

Meghan Lynch, Sc.D., is an accomplished manager of cross-disciplinary teams, with 20 years of experience specializing in toxicology and human health risk assessment. She is skilled at interpreting, evaluating, and communicating toxicological and epidemiological information for hazardous substances. She has managed a variety of projects for ATSDR, OSHA, EPA, and nonprofit agencies. These include leading tasks requiring the synthesis of toxicological information and risk assessments, and performing both probabilistic and benchmark dose modeling. The results of these projects have been subject to peer review. Lynch has also provided memorandums and analyses supporting risk assessments and addressing industry comments, which have been used to support plaintiffs in litigation for chemical contaminants.

Sarah J. Shoemaker-Hunt has more than 15 years of experience as a health services researcher and implementation scientist. As an experienced pharmacist, she brings a practice-informed lens to her role conducting mixed-methods studies and evaluations and delivering technical assistance and quality improvement projects for federal health agencies. They include the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Clients also include non-governmental organizations. Sarah is the Abt client account lead for AHRQ.

Hadiza Soumaila is a medical entomologist, biologist, and scientist with more than 15 years of global experience in the field entomological surveillance for diseases such as malaria, Rift Valley fever, and yellow fever. She has substantial experience in vector-borne diseases and served as head of the Vector Control Unit of Niger’s National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) for more than 13 years. She has taught biological sciences, hematology, parasitology, and entomology at the Niger National School of Public Health for more than 20 years.

Dr. Isabel Ana Nhatave has over 20 years of experience implementing STI/HIV/AIDS; maternal, newborn, and child health; and cervical cancer programs with a focus on health system strengthening. Dr. Nhatave has worked with national, provincial, and district-level governments and with local health facilities to build health system capacity, including health service management, human resources for health, supply chain management, and quality improvement processes. She has successfully advocated for the establishment of technical working groups and quality improvement and management committees and directorates across health areas within the Mozambique Ministry of Health.

Dr. Ndombour Gning Cisse is a biologist and scientist with 16 years of experience in public health and environmental health management, particularly in malaria vector control in Africa. She has experience in all aspects of insecticide spraying operations, including planning, training, supervision, human resources talent management, leadership development, strategic planning, project implementation, and capacity development assignments in four countries.

Chanry Im has more than 10 years of experience directing monitoring and evaluation and technical assistance for national health programs in Cambodia, working with government stakeholders from the peripheral, sub-national, and national levels. Trained as an epidemiologist, he also has experience in health management information systems (HMIS). His technical support to the Cambodian national tuberculosis (TB) program transformed the management of TB patient’s health data from a paper-based to web-based system for real-time data collection. His current focus includes working with the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology, and Malaria Control, the University of Puthisastra, and the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI).

Dr. Walid Sallam is an agricultural marketing expert with 23 years of experience advising and supporting agribusinesses and farmers in Egypt. He helps them expand their businesses and implement practical solutions to increase productivity, quality, and sales. Sallam has provided expert analysis and evaluations for businesses, international and local organizations, and the government of Egypt on topics ranging from agricultural marketing and finance to operations. For the past eight years, he has led five capacity building and technical assistance agribusiness programs in Egypt that have introduced innovative, low-cost solutions to increase smallholder farmers productivity, improve the livelihood of rural communities, equip recent graduates with job-related skills, empower women, and mitigate the effects of climate change. As Associate Professor in the Department of Agribusiness at Cairo University, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in marketing, international trade, agricultural finance, price analysis, and operations research.