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Dereje Dengela is an epidemiologist and entomologist with more than 25 years of experience in planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of malaria control programs. He has extensive managerial experience, having supervised as many as 94 professionals. He has held senior positions with the government of Ethiopia, worked on projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and served as a national malaria program officer in Ethiopia. He supported the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia in mobilization of financial resources from donors, particularly the Global Fund. Dengela has authored or co-authored more than 30 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Midori de Habich brings 25 years of experience leading and implementing development activities in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), including two years serving as Minister of Health, and 10 years as a Chief of Party of USAID-funded projects in her native country of Peru.de Habich is the technical director for the Abt-led, USAID-financed Local Health System Sustainability Project (LHSS), which supports government efforts to improve access to quality care for poor, underserved, and socially excluded populations in LMICs. de Habich helps country teams to think creatively about new solutions and approaches. She ensures that the project’s collaborative approach to working with local government partners is applied wherever LHSS works. She also oversees the global technical expert pool, coordinates cross-project learning, and is responsible for the quality assurance of technical approaches and major project deliverables.

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 for policy and global programs. He subsequently became the first salaried CEO of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. During his three-year tenure, he grew the organization’s grant commitments from $40 million to $220 million.

Joe Donahue is an environmental policy specialist and portfolio manager with more than 15 years of experience supporting governments in developing and implementing policies and programs focused on climate change, clean energy, ozone layer protection, and solid waste management. His work spans both domestic and international programs and initiatives. Technical areas of expertise include climate change mitigation strategies; international capacity building; greenhouse gas quantification methods; short-lived climate pollutants, especially methane, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons; and clean energy policies.

Eric Reading leads major initiatives at the enterprise level for Abt Global, particularly in areas of strategic priority including digital transformation. He previously led Abt Global’s International Development Division, the largest division of the firm.

Leisa Gibson, the Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) senior advisor and practice lead for Abt in Britain, has more than 20 years of international experience working for governments, the United Nations, and civil society organisations. Her expertise includes strategic and operational planning, program formulation and delivery, change management, coordination and partnerships, quality assurance, and targeted interventions. She works on such issues as disability, development, inclusive leadership, gender and gender-based violence (GBV) in humanitarian action, child marriage, women’s economic empowerment, and organisational capacity development.

Lori Hunter is a Project Management Professional and a Certified Scrum Master with 20 years of experience working in systems analysis, functional requirements analysis, user-centered design and user experience, database administration and design, and web design and development. Her projects and experience represent a range of complexities, including administrative and evaluation data collection and reporting systems analysis and visualization, clearinghouses, websites, technical assistance tracking, evaluation data collection, interactive online tools and libraries, communities of practice, and Section 508 compliance. She has been the lead project manager for several large CMMI-3 IT implementations. Her responsibilities have included directing project team personnel; managing scope, schedule, budget, and risk; ensuring contract compliance; and serving as the interface with the customer and customer stakeholders.

Natalie Matthews has over 15 years of experience in the field of homelessness, with a focus on direct service, system planning, database administration, and technical assistance and implementation (TA). Since joining Abt in 2009, Matthews has served in a variety of roles on its U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Compass TA cooperative agreements. She’s also worked on several locally and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)-funded TA projects, as well as research, monitoring and evaluation projects.  She served as the project director for the VA’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) monitoring project, served on the evaluation team for HUD’s first evaluation of rapid re-housing programs for families (2012), and led the evaluation of Hartford Connecticut’s homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing program (2014).

Julia Watson is an economist and health systems specialist with 25 years of experience working on both developed and developing country health systems. She has extensive experience managing people and programs and collaborating with a wide range of partners. Her work focuses on improving health financing systems and strengthening the stewardship role of governments in mixed health systems.