Our Team

Our team has a mix of skills, substantive expertise, and personalities that together make a unique and effective combination to support a range of organizations, across a wide variety of topics, challenges, and needs.

Michelle Derr, PhD., the Founder and CEO of Adjacent Possible.

Michelle Derr, Ph.D.

Founder and CEO

  • For the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation in the Administration for Children and Families, she served as co-principal investigator (PI) for the Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Strategies Project and Evaluation of Employment Coaching for TANF and Related Populations and is currently the PI for SUPPORTT, a national pilot of TANF programs focused on helping states improve and track program outcome measures. Putting research to practice, Michelle led the development of Learn, Innovate, Improve (LI2), a model she uses to help practitioners across the nation use and build evidence and evidence-informed practice models including a leadership practice and coaching model that has been rigorously evaluated (Goal4 It!). She currently leads the Youth Educational Transitions project for the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, a homelessness prevention pilot for the Los Angeles Department of Public Social Services, and New Jersey's CASA Network Impact a redesign of program to support children in out-of-home care. Michelle's passion, vision, and unwavering dedication to social impact is grounded in studying more than 150 programs in 35 states and territories, qualitative interviews with more than 600 families with experience living in conditions of poverty, and working in hundreds of communities to use and build evidence to improve lives.

    Before founding The Adjacent Possible in 2021, Michelle worked at Mathematica for 22 years where she served as a Senior Fellow conducting research and evaluation and providing evidence-driven support. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of Utah.

Gretchen Kirby, M.P.P. a Senior Fellow at Adjacent Possible.

Gretchen Kirby, M.P.P.

Senior Fellow

  • She has studied and supported cross-sector efforts to foster lasting systems change between the TANF and WIOA programs and across numerous state and federal early childhood programs—including the Early Childhood Systems Collective Impact project. As a Libra, Gretchen embraces balance as both a personal value and a professional approach, facilitating meaningful engagement with a wide range of individuals—from researchers and policy leaders to local practitioners and families. Her facilitation work supports problem identification, solution development, study design, research agendas, and practical tools.

    At The Adjacent Possible, Gretchen brings together her deep expertise in early care and education and adult employment programs to advance Two-Generation (2Gen) strategies. Gretchen is driven by the belief that investing in young children creates a more joyful, unified future. She partners with community-based organizations and funders to clarify purpose, strengthen implementation, and identify outcomes that benefit both children and their caregivers. She is currently part of the team designing the next national Head Start study and advises states on coordinating services to support whole-family approaches.

    Before joining The Adjacent Possible in 2024, Gretchen had a 26-year career at Mathematica where she led dozens of implementation and outcome studies, recruited programs to participate in random assignment evaluations, and directed projects that developed measures of implementation, cost, and leadership in child care centers. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University and really is not as serious as she might first seem.

Mary Derr, the Chief Financial Officer at Adjacent Possible

Mary Derr

Chief Financial Officer

  • Over the course of her career, Mary has contributed her skills to a variety of organizations, including the Administrative Offices of the Utah State Courts, Truman State University’s Financial Aid Department, and the billing team at Mayo Clinic’s Specialty Pharmacy. She has also supported student success in earlier roles with Rochester Public Schools as a paraprofessional and with the Davis School District as a reading tutor. Her career evolution highlights a consistent dedication to meaningful, service-oriented work across sectors.

    Outside of her professional endeavors, Mary enjoys travel, reading, continuing her Spanish studies, and spending quality time with her family.