Christopher Spera

Dr. Christopher Spera, an experienced senior executive (Division Vice President) and scientific officer, leads the domestic health and environment division at Abt Associates.  Dr. Spera oversees a cross-functional team of 265+ health service researchers, epidemiologists, economists, social scientists, and clinicians working on a variety of behavioral health, health policy, public health, criminal justice, and environment issues.  Dr. Spera is responsible for business growth strategy, project execution, and overall division profit and loss (P&L) management. He received the George Michaels award in 2016 from Abt as the top entrepreneur of the year.  He oversees a portfolio of projects (government contracts and grants) funded by federal agencies (e.g., CMS, SAMHSA, CDC, NIH, FDA, AHRQ, PCORI, EPA, NOAA, DOJ, HRSA), foundations (e.g. Hilton Foundation), and private sector firms.  Dr. Spera is an expert in program evaluation and health analytics, including random assignment, quasi-experimental design, mixed methods evaluation, quantitative and qualitative analysis.  He routinely interfaces with clients, including agency heads, chief medical officers, and senior personnel in government and industry.  Dr. Spera serves on faculty at Carnegie Mellon University where he teaches program evaluation.  He has authored over 25+ peer reviewed articles and 50+ technical evaluation reports. During the last presidential administration, Dr. Spera was the Director of Research and Evaluation for the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and a liaison to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and was recognized as a leader in his ability to foster a culture of evaluation within a federal agency http://govinnovator.com/chris_spera. Dr. Spera holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in Human Development and Quantitative Methodology (Psychology).