Important News – Joanne Osmond is finally leave the comfortable world of School Board Governance in beautiful Lake County Illinois to move with Chomedy and Bud’s cat Jill, to Provo, Utah. Beautiful green trees, marshes, lakes and corn fields will be replaced by majestic mountains and sage green.

The future is unknown, but something will fill her waking hours. More about Joanne Osmond – https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/why-some-people-thrive-on-four-hours-of-sleep.

Joanne Osmond brings order out of chaos. Her efforts in school board governance improved the dialog between the community, setting expectations for the school district, and reporting the results from the administration back to the school board and community as a whole. Her leadership efforts attained attention around the state of Illinois with many school districts now using this model, or a form of it, for their own local education governance initiatives.

Joanne devotes herself to many causes throughout her community, but her passion and leadership on District 41 School Board has made the schools fiscally sound and recognized for educational excellence throughout the state.

Her expertise is in school governance and policy. Without sacrificing education and fiscal responsibility, Joanne has woven a systematic approach to school board responsibility that is true to the intent of a democratic government entity. Her strength was appreciated not only locally but also state-wide as she served as the President of the Illinois Association of School Boards representing the diverse population of students in Lake County and Illinois. Joanne served in leadership roles at the IASB for sixteen years including President for two years. Lake Villa District 41 is one of a handful of schools that has been recognized five times with the IASB School Board Governance Recognition. Each year requires additional improvement over and above the previous recognition. In 2026, the school board reviewed all of their policies asking the important question “How do we know?” 

She is an online college instructor providing programs worldwide that assist entrepreneurs as they strive to reach their goals. Joanne has adapted the quality programs she learned at Abbott Laboratories to small businesses. Her objective is to help every small business develop a vision of what they can achieve as they stabilize their business through understanding financial reports, grow their business through effective target marketing, and innovate their operations by thinking out of the box.

Joanne assisted SEDOL (Special Education District of Lake County) as a member of the Executive and Governing Boards.

Joanne is not afraid to take well thought out risks and seek inspiration from those who strive to help others fulfill their dreams.