Discover how cross-sector collaboration and synergy can unlock solutions to complex problems that no single organization can solve alone, drawing on two decades of experience in government, nonprofit, education, and business.
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Influential Woman · Management Consulting and Expert Witness Services
Dr. Saralyn Grass
President & Co-Founder, Verdant Synergies Consulting
Jacksonville, FL 32217
23Years experience
1Article published
11Awards received
Her Story
About Dr. Saralyn
Dr. Saralyn Grass is an executive leader, entrepreneur, consultant and expert witness with more than two decades of experience working at the intersection of government, nonprofit organizations, education and business. Her career has centered on solving complex organizational and community challenges, strengthening systems and building partnerships that translate strategy into measurable impact.
Today, Dr. Grass serves as President and Co-Founder of Verdant Synergies Consulting, which she founded with her husband to help organizations identify opportunities, secure resources, strengthen operations and turn ambitious ideas into action. Verdant represents the couple's second entrepreneurial venture, following their earlier founding and operation of Grasslands Brewing Company, a craft brewery they built together. Her current work includes executive and organizational strategy, business development, resource development, strategic partnerships, research and analysis and advisory services for public, nonprofit and private-sector organizations.
Dr. Grass also maintains a national expert witness and legal consulting practice, providing analysis in matters involving childcare and youth-serving organizations, institutional responsibility, negligence, mandated reporting, supervision and standards of care. Her work draws on decades of experience in early childhood systems, child welfare, program evaluation, organizational leadership and public policy.
Before co-founding Verdant Synergies Consulting, Dr. Grass served as Chief Executive Officer of Kids Hope Alliance, the City of Jacksonville's children's services agency, where she directed a public agency with an annual budget exceeding $60 million and helped oversee more than $50 million annually in funding for nonprofit organizations serving children, youth and families. Her earlier leadership roles included Executive Director of the Association of Early Learning Coalitions and senior positions overseeing statewide initiatives in early childhood, research, policy and program development.
An educator and researcher as well as an executive, Dr. Grass has taught at both the University of North Florida and Florida State University. She holds a Doctor of Education in Educational Policy and Program Evaluation from Florida State University, a Master of Science in Human Development from Virginia Tech and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of North Florida.
Her career and community leadership have been recognized through honors including Florida State University's College of Education Trailblazer Award, the Girl Scouts of Gateway Council Women of Distinction recognition and inclusion among the Tallahassee Democrat's "25 Women to Know." Dr. Grass currently serves on the Florida Bar Citizens Advisory Committee and has held numerous state and community leadership appointments throughout her career.
At the center of her work is a belief in creating connections across sectors, disciplines and organizations to solve problems that no single institution can address alone. Increasingly, she is also exploring entrepreneurship, professional reinvention and the ways accomplished people reclaim their narratives after unexpected career disruptions.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Dr. Saralyn
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute much of my success to the confidence and strong sense of possibility my family instilled in me from an early age. My husband has been an extraordinary partner throughout my career, and entrepreneurship has been part of our story for years. We previously built and operated a craft brewery together and today are building our second venture, Verdant Synergies Consulting. I have also benefited from mentors who believed in me enough to give me candid advice, challenge my thinking and encourage me to pursue opportunities I might not otherwise have considered. Over time, I have learned that success is rarely an individual accomplishment. It is shaped by the people who support us, challenge us and help us see possibilities beyond what we can see for ourselves.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've received is to do work you value and to be somewhere that values you in return. Both matter. A prestigious title or successful organization cannot compensate indefinitely for work that no longer has meaning or an environment where your contribution is not valued. I've learned that knowing when to stay is important, but knowing when to build something new can be equally important.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Build expertise before you worry about building a brand. Become exceptionally good at something, stay curious and don't be afraid to cross traditional professional boundaries. Some of the most valuable opportunities in my career came because I could connect ideas across policy, research, operations, funding and leadership. I would also tell young women not to wait until they feel completely ready. Competence matters, but so does having the confidence to step into opportunities that stretch you.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the greatest opportunities I see is at the intersection of sectors. Government, nonprofits, education, philanthropy and business often work on the same problems from separate vantage points, with separate resources and separate systems. Some of our most difficult challenges can be addressed more effectively when we create intentional partnerships across those boundaries. Technology and AI are also creating enormous opportunities to improve how organizations identify funding, analyze information, measure performance and operate more efficiently. The challenge is ensuring that innovation strengthens human judgment and organizational capacity rather than simply adding another layer of complexity.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Family, independence, integrity, curiosity and impact are central to how I approach both my work and my life. My husband and I built Verdant Synergies Consulting around the idea that professional success should create greater freedom to choose meaningful work, pursue ambitious ideas and build a life intentionally. I also value intellectual curiosity. I am happiest when I am solving a difficult problem, learning something new or connecting people and ideas in a way that creates an opportunity that did not previously exist.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Dr. Saralyn
The Best Solutions Don't Live in Silos
How Cross-Sector Collaboration Unlocks Solutions to Complex Problems
The Power of Synergy: Solving Problems Together
For more than two decades, I have worked across government, nonprofit organizations, education, and now the private sector. One lesson has followed me into every role: the hardest problems rarely belong to just one organization, and the best solutions rarely come from one either.
Too often, organizations operate within artificial boundaries. A nonprofit sees a funding problem. A government agency sees a policy problem. An employer sees a workforce problem. An educational institution sees a training problem. Yet these may actually be different views of the same challenge.
The opportunity comes when we stop asking, “How can my organization solve this?” and start asking, “Who else has a piece of this solution?”
I see this particularly clearly in workforce development. Employers need skilled workers. Young people need exposure to viable careers. Schools need meaningful pathways for students. Nonprofits need resources to expand opportunity. Government and philanthropy want investments that produce measurable results. None can fully solve the problem independently. Together, they can build an ecosystem.
That principle ultimately helped inspire my husband and me to create Verdant Synergies Consulting. The word synergy was intentional. We believe that bringing together the right organizations, resources, expertise, and ideas can produce something greater than any one participant could create alone.
Effective collaboration, however, requires more than assembling people around a table. It requires clarity about the problem, candor about what each partner can contribute, and a willingness to share both ownership and credit.
After 20 years of watching organizations tackle complex challenges, I have become convinced of this:
Sometimes the most valuable person in the room isn't the one with the answer. It's the one who recognizes who else needs to be in the room.
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