Our Leadership

The senior executive team has extensive experience working in global health and development in the private and public sector and have developed, led, and evaluated global health programs in infectious diseases, maternal child health, immunizations, and non-communicable diseases.They have also conducted comprehensive landscape analysis at the country/regional level on specific health topics and systems issues; and developed country/regional strategies for tobacco, HIV, maternal child health, and human resource programs. Akeso’s senior partners have developed and implemented policies, organizational development, leadership, and management projects with governments and the private sector in multiple countries.

Carmine Bozzi is a Senior Partner in Akeso Associates and is a member of the two-person senior management team. Prior to this venture he held a variety of positions at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, most recently Deputy for HIV responsible for country based program implementation, research and policy development. He joined the foundation from a position with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) where he held a variety of positions focused on global health and infectious diseases, most recently serving as the Associate Director for Management and Operations for the National Center for HIV, STDs and Tuberculosis Prevention. Mr. Bozzi was one of the original architects of CDC’s Global AIDS Program. He led the design and implementation of this landmark precursor to PEPFAR resulting in the establishment of 25 CDC field sites in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and South America. He is a graduate of the Ohio State University with a bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and a master’s in Business Administration from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.


Alyson Shumays is a Program Analyst with Akeso Associates. Ms. Shumays most recently worked at the University of Washington’s I-TECH, where she led headquarters based teams to implement large health systems strengthening programs in Tanzania, Namibia, and China. Her duties included program and budget management, supervision, training, program design, and evaluation. Prior to working at I-TECH, Ms. Shumays worked at the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies on the Board on Global Health. She also has several years experience working as a grant manager at non-profit organizations and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa. Ms. Shumays completed her Master of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

Raleigh Watts is a Senior Partner in Akeso Associates and is a member of the two-person senior management team. From 2005 to 2011, Mr. Watts worked with the University of Washington to develop the global network of the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH), where he was responsible for developing the leadership and management of eleven offices in complex developing-world settings. Mr. Watts contributed to the domestic and global work of the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) from its inception and during his 13-year tenure as the HIV care and treatment director with the Washington State Department of Health. Mr. Watts holds a master’s degree from the University of Washington.


Phil Nieburg is a Senior Technical Advisor with Akeso Associates and is a pediatrician with additional formal training in infectious diseases, preventive medicine, and a Master’s Degree in public health.  From 1977-2003, Dr. Nieburg was a medical epidemiologist at the CDC, including serving for two years as the resident advisor in the Mexico Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) and for three years as the first Associate Director for Science at CDC’s National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention.  He subsequently became the Washington, DC liaison for CDC’s Global AIDS Program. Since 2003, Dr. Nieburg has been a Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), initially working with its HIV/AIDS Task Force and since 2008 with its Global Health Policy Center.  His major interests there include various aspects of HIV prevention and the collection and use of data to evaluate global health programs.