Sarah Roberts is an entrepreneur with a passion for developments and their ability to transform businesses and communities. Sarah is active in real estate development and business ventures. She is also founding principal of KSR, working with innovative clients to deliver development projects. Since launching KSR in 2013, Roberts built a reputation for the site location of transformational projects for corporate clients that are disruptors in their industry. Sample industry sectors include commercial real estate, commercial space, advanced transportation, nanotechnology, health care, urban adaptive reuse projects, and entrepreneurial/co-working development. Sarah previously spent a decade leading an award-winning regional economic development program at the Greater Waco Chamber. Roberts is an active member of the Waco business community, serving on multiple civic and business boards, currently including Alliance Bank of Central Texas, Waco Business League (past President), StartUp Waco, Waco Industrial Foundation, and Prosper Waco. Sarah’s work garnered national and statewide awards, including being recognized by New York-based Development Counselors International in the 2013 inaugural class of 40 under 40 Rising Stars Economic Development in its first-ever year of the award. Roberts holds a BBA from Baylor University’s top-ranked Entrepreneurship program.
Sarah Roberts brings nearly twenty years of experience in real estate development and economic development. Through her firm, KSR, Roberts has delivered site location projects across technical industry sector with a focus on the financial and technical resources needed to build advanced projects and achieve innovative business goals.
Since launching KSR in 2013, Roberts has built a reputation for the site location of transformational projects for corporate clients that are disruptors in their industry. Sample industry sectors include commercial real estate, commercial space, advanced transportation, nanotechnology, health care, urban adaptive reuse projects, and entrepreneurial/co-working development.
Roberts previously worked as an economic development executive for ten years, leading a regional economic development team. Her team focused on attracting new and expanded corporate locations, urban development, and high-impact entrepreneurship. Also responsible for building the product to attract these investments, Roberts managed master planning, development and disposition of an approximately $50 million real estate portfolio in multiple business parks that experienced record level sales, construction, acquisition, and creation of next generation business parks during her tenure. She also led administration of a regional economic development corporation, directing more than $20 million in incentives to leverage approximately $430 million in private investment.
Roberts has built teams and implemented strategies that garnered international and statewide respect, including recognition by International Economic Development Council in 2009 for the Multi-Year Economic Development Program (greater than 200,000 population) for launching a transformational public-private development program that generated significant development results, as well as the 2003 and 2010 Community Economic Development Award from the Texas Economic Development Council. In 2013, Sarah was recognized by New York-based Development Counselors International as the inaugural class of 40 under 40 Rising Stars Economic Development from a pool of more than 150 candidates in its first-ever year of the award.
Roberts is also an active member of the regional business community, serving on multiple civic and business boards, currently including the Waco Business League (President-Elect), StartUp Waco, Alliance Bank of Central Texas, Waco Industrial Foundation, and Prosper Waco. She is a presenter in site selection and development strategies, specifically for advanced site location projects.
Roberts has also served statewide and nationally in the development profession, including being one of two economic developers on the national Industrial Asset Management Council Board of Directors for three years (2010-2012) and board (2007-2011) and executive committee appointments to the Texas Economic Development Council (2010-2011). Sarah has also served as a member of Team Texas, TexasOne, Central Texas Commercial Association of Realtors and International Economic Development Council, actively supporting many of these organizations as a committee chair and member.
Roberts holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Baylor University’s top-ranked Entrepreneurship program. She is an entrepreneur and partner in real estate and business ventures. She and her husband, Korbett Roberts, a business succession advisor and financial advisor, call Waco, Texas home with their family.