Sarah Lebherz passionately stewards the cooperative business model as a seasoned cooperator with deep roots in her home town. Equipped with years of financial management and expansion project expertise, she has found fresh purpose in pro forma and budget development with colleagues at Columinate.

The historic downtown of Frederick, Maryland, has been home to Lebherz family business pursuits for generations. Sarah’s family members operate Lebherz Oil and Vinegar Emporium and Lebherz Insurance Agency, and her parents were founding members of the Common Market Co-op in the 1970s. Such a network of family and community in her hometown was a fruitful environment in which Lebherz could grow and succeed as a co-op manager.

“In 1997, I returned from living in Belize for two years between college and graduate school. My parents had been co-op volunteers for some time and were then on the board of Common Market. I joined the fifteen other co-op staff, and it was all about trying different roles and learning new skills. I was a buyer, a manager, and even filled in as bookkeeper when a colleague was out,” Lebherz recalled. When the long-time general manager, Robyn O’Brien, departed, Lebherz took the helm as the co-op’s general manager, a position she held for thirteen years.

“We had been bursting at the seams, and in 2006 the co-op relocated. I knew we’d be successful with the new location—perhaps it was some blind optimism! But working on an expansion project was the best experience I’ve ever had,” Lebherz shared. “There was an amazing network of people in the co-op industry at that time, and so many to lean on and learn from. Our expansion allowed me to work with many professionals who now comprise the current Columinate roster, including Carolee Colter and Michael Healy. I couldn’t have done it without the support of these mentors.”

At its new location, the co-op beat initial financial projections and was able to pay back loans early. When leaders began thinking about a second store, Lebherz moved into her current position of Common Market’s chief financial officer. “I wanted to do project management again, head up a capital campaign, and raise the money.”

When helping co-ops with their development and expansion goals, relationship building with clients is her top priority in assessing financial feasibility.

Now Lebherz is able to regularly scratch that itch by helping other co-ops with their development and expansion goals. Relationship building with clients is her top priority in constructing pro formas and assessing financial feasibility. “We work with folks who may not have a lot of operational start-up experience. So Columinate’s focus is ongoing work, training, and education with them. What are levers in the tool called a pro forma that one can modify to reach financial feasibility?” Lebherz explains.

Lebherz, in tandem with Columinate colleague Don Moffitt, emphasizes education about the financial tools: exploring together what the funding plan could look like for a particular co-op, honing in on what is margin minus labor and what does that look like for this co-op, etc. This work frequently centers strategic conversations with members of boards of directors, and/or with operational staff (if in place).

“We learn the vision the co-op is trying to achieve, and then model it correctly. Our shared work is to understand if it’s achievable or not, and if not, modify as needed. Nowadays, with construction costs skyrocketing, it takes more creativity to finance projects. Some stores foresee a lower sales volume, which requires a lot more creativity to model labor effectively. And many startups want to pay staff a living wage, so we explore how to model that with keeping prices low.”

Understanding clients’ goals across a variety of projects means new challenges for Lebherz. But rather than delivering pro formas and budgets in a one-off fashion, she is glad Columinate invests in relationship-building and understanding the community support around a co-op that aims to realize its vision.

“I love co-ops, and we need more co-ops in the world. I love grocery shopping and stores. Love being an operator, I really do,” Lebherz exudes. “Our business model is so ingrained with me, I hope I can be of service in helping more. My hope is to continue giving to the movement, just as people gave to me while growing the Common Market Co-op.”