Janelle Roberts

Janelle J. Roberts joined Ross Strategic in 2021. She is a skilled facilitator, evaluator, and project manager with over a decade of experience advising federal and state policymakers, synthesizing information to identify patterns and actionable insights, and engaging stakeholders across sectors to surface shared priorities for policy change. She is passionate about fostering equity and collaborating to find practical, community-centered solutions to complex challenges.

At Ross Strategic, Janelle has supported facilitation, evaluation, strategic planning, and collaborative visioning projects for clients in the public, philanthropic, and multilateral sectors. Her work includes a series of scenario planning workshops for the African Climate Foundation, facilitation of the Climate Investment Funds’ initiative to operationalize transformational change in climate action, an ongoing evaluation of the Colorado Health Foundation’s Locally Focused Work, and facilitation and planning for expert working groups of the Pacific Coast Collaborative.

Janelle has advised policymakers in Congress and the Executive Branch on U.S. foreign policy matters, including development needs and programming in Africa, atrocity prevention and civilian protection practices, and international investments in global health programs. She has also worked with international nongovernmental organizations to develop strategic engagement plans and educate Congressional staff, the public, and U.S. government officials on pressing issues facing civilians in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. In that capacity, Janelle worked as part of a coalition to draft and advance federal legislation to enhance U.S. government atrocity prevention capacity. Prior to joining Ross, Janelle served as a policy analyst with the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, where she evaluated the performance of state agencies through a combination of stakeholder interviews, review of program data, and statutory analysis.

Janelle holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from Transylvania University. A self-professed word nerd, Janelle enjoys developing her foreign language skills, traveling, reading, and exploring, both at home and further afield.