Client Stories
Clients Love Us!
Statewide Nonprofit: Florida Nonprofit Alliance (FNA)
Increasing mission impact through strategic clarity, organizational alignment, and strong partnerships.
“I’ve worked with Ertrachter Group across multiple types of work, and the common thread is always the same: Jana creates clarity and consensus in rooms where it can be genuinely hard to get there.
Whether it’s collective impact work with high-level stakeholders, strategic planning with boards or helping long-standing organizations evolve, her facilitation can change the dynamic. She anchors the process in shared principles, builds trust quickly and keeps people focused on the big picture.
She’ll make sure every voice is included, even when people aren’t ready to share openly. She will capture what was actually said, and turn it into a framework you can commit to: goals, accountability and how to measure progress. She’ll frame why goals matter and bring people along even when they start in different places. Her calm demeanor makes it easier for people to be open, which is so necessary for collaborative work.
Working with Ertrachter Group, the most valuable part is often the consensus-building. Jana can help you name the hard issues, align priorities and create a plan your stakeholders can stand behind. Once your group is aligned on a shared definition and priorities, you can translate it to sustainable outputs that can continue year after year to achieve your goals.”
— Sabeen Perwaiz, President & CEO
Statewide Nonprofit: Florida Nonprofit Alliance (FNA)
Corporate: Suddath Workplace Solutions
Strengthening the strategy, aligning leadership, and turning priorities into meaningful results.
"I was brought in to figure out what’s next in our organization, where we need to grow, what revenues we need to hit, and how to set ourselves up strategically for the next phase.
This group hadn’t gone through a process like this, so the challenge was twofold: we needed a partner who could help develop the strategy, while also bringing the team along in a new way. Jana delivered on both.
What made it work was the open dialogue and candor. We checked in constantly and course-corrected when needed. If we had just presented a mandate, it’s possible we wouldn’t have gotten the strong buy-in we needed from these very high level professionals to truly move to the next level.
The team development work was a real turning point. Jana partnered with us through a months-long process that blended face-to-face and virtual teams spread across the country. Through a mix of in-person and virtual sessions, we built trust and improved the team dynamic in a meaningful way. We saw increased trust forming and leaders who really came together. People started showing up with more openness and candor, the conversation got more real and we aligned as a senior team who could make decisions together.
At the same time, we honed the corporate strategy, developing a concise plan that could be briefed at senior executive and board levels, but that also translated all the way to actionable measures. That clarity didn’t just help us get aligned, it has also helped with implementation.
Jana has been a true partner, knowing when to challenge me, when to push the team, and where she needed me to prod so we could move the group forward. She already understood the culture and the broader direction of the firm, so we could focus immediately on the business and how to move forward as one to get us to the next level.”
— Rich Greco
President, Suddath Workplace Solutions
https://suddath.com/about/leadership
Community Collaboratives: READ JAX
Creating shared vision, building alignment, and coordinating action around complex community challenges.
“I’ve worked with Ertrachter Group on efforts that require real cross-sector coordination, where many different organizations need to be brought into alignment around a common goal.
Jana is exceptional at designing and leading a process that builds trust across sectors. She honors different perspectives, and helps everyone see that when we work together, what we want is achievable. She’s an active listener in the truest sense: people feel heard, their viewpoints are acknowledged, and somehow she can pull the room toward shared ownership without anyone feeling steamrolled.
I first saw that strength when we were taking on a massive community challenge and needed an all-sector movement, going beyond a typical strategic plan. With her by my side, we were able to convene the right mix of stakeholders, build the trust required to work across differences, and move from big conversations to real execution. I wouldn’t have attempted something that ambitious without her research, her clarity and her ability to lead a disciplined, inclusive process.
That’s why I’ve continued to engage her across multiple initiatives that demand coordination at scale. These are not simple projects, and she has a rare combination of facilitation skill and operational rigor that keeps people aligned long after the meeting ends.
Jana is the ultimate professional: prompt, reliable, and consistently prepared, with impeccable notes that keep everyone on track and moving in the same direction. Though the work can be complex, she makes it feel doable, even joyful. When we need a clear, ‘for sure’ path to reach a big goal, she’s our navigator. I don’t have enough good things to say: she’s a consensus builder with integrity that’s second to none, and I’m genuinely proud of what we’ve accomplished.”
— Ellen Wiss
Founder and Board Chair, READ USA and Philanthropist
Statewide Nonprofit: Florida College Access Network (FCAN)
Aligning leadership, faculty, families, and communities around student success.
As a statewide network supporting local communities, our strategic planning has to be collaborative by nature. Our mission depends on partnerships and shared work. That’s why working with Ertrachter Group is such a natural fit.
Jana provides a structured program and facilitates a fantastic process, even with a large group of participants. We hit the ground running because she has educated everyone on what a good strategic planning process looks like. The meetings are efficient, and the level of trust only grows as we work together.
What we appreciate most is that the plan doesn’t end as a document on a shelf. Ertrachter Group makes it easy to operationalize the strategy and put it into play.
She helps ensure board advisors and staff are engaged throughout, so the board can translate the plan across the year and staff can build a real relationship with it.
Jana has a special talent for collective planning and for seeing connections across organizations, and she brings the right balance of empathy, relatability, and serious expertise.
— Braulio Colón
Executive Director
Florida College Access Network
YPO
“We brought in Ertrachter Group as our certified YPO Forum facilitator to help integrate three new members at our mini-retreat. After one phone call I knew Jana would be a perfect fit. Before she even came on site, she took the time to speak with a cross section of forum members, including new and experienced, so she could really understand our group. We also shared our pre-retreat survey results, and the amount of background research she did was honestly impressive. It felt like she knew our forum before she even walked in.
During the retreat, she helped us organize our meetings around updates and four-step forum explorations, and she laid the groundwork for trust in a way we hadn’t experienced before. She also set us up to develop a vision statement, which we completed afterward.
After working with her, we were better able to organize our meetings and structure them around our updates and our four-step forum explorations. More importantly, she laid the groundwork for trust. People felt comfortable opening up, and I truly think we shared more than we ever had before.
We would absolutely work with her again, and I recommend her to any Forum looking for thoughtful, tailored facilitation.”
Amanda Towerman
YPO St. Louis Spouse Forum Leader
YPO + Strategic Planning
“I’ve engaged Ertrachter Group across multiple for-profit and nonprofit settings, including leadership and culture work. In environments where clarity and alignment matter, especially in a turnaround environment, she helps uncover and shape mission, vision, and core values in a way that the organization can actually own.
Ertrachter Group has also helped with YPO Forum facilitation, where she conducts key pre-work, including planning, pre-interviews, and thoughtful exercise development, so the time together feels relevant from the start. She creates the conditions for honest conversation without forcing anything, so the result is always extremely beneficial.
No matter the situation, Jana doesn’t arrive with her own agenda. She interviews a cross-section of people ahead of time, designs a program that reflects the real challenges, and facilitates in a way that pulls insight out of the team rather than inserting her own ideas.
She listens, builds trust quickly, and helps the group surface what’s already there, then turns it into clear and actionable action items.
The result is consistently impactful and well received.”
Jim Evanger
Private Equity CEO & Operating Partner
YPO Regional Strategic Alliance Officer