Joanne Osmond

Joanne Osmond is a reformer and change agent. She is a speaker, author, and innovator. She is skilled at transforming individuals and organizations. Joanne has a MBA and a Masters of Information Systems. In 1981, Joanne attended the University of Hawaii taking computer language classes including COBOL, FORTRAN, and Assembler and was hired by the University to write a program that enrolled their students. Joanne’s involvement in technology and education began over thirty years ago when she took an Apple II computer and monitor to  elementary schools and taught the children how to program in basic.

As Manager of Abbott Laboratories’ Information Technology Support Center, Joanne received an international award from the Help Desk Institute for operational excellence by developing the right organization, processes, and technology to provide consistent delivery of end-to-end customer support. In 2003, she received the ATHENA Award for assisting women in reaching their full leadership potential in business and in the community. After retiring from Abbott in 2002, Joanne started counseling at the Illinois Small Business Development Center at the College of Lake County where she assisted entrepreneurs in moving their businesses to the next level. In addition to Introduction to Business and Advance Business Planning, she taught workshops in Web Design and Search Engine Optimization.  Based on a need she observed while counseling, Joanne started her own company to provide web design and web hoisting for startup businesses. Market Drafters provided small businesses and not-for-profit organizations with self-managed websites, search engine optimization, and web hosting. When in-person class attendance started to decline and classes were cancelled due to low enrollment, Joanne with her partner Claudia Pannell developed on-line training and Webinars for small business owners to fill the need for just-in-time access to business knowledge. The success of Small Business Spoken Here in Lake County prompted the Illinois and the Texas Small Business Development Centers to request the same online classes for a wider audience. In little over a month, Joanne was able to evaluate the existing courses, redesign the processes for enrolling in and evaluating the courses, install a Learning Management System, and test the new applications before the launch on January 1, 2013.

Joanne and Claudia wrote a ten segment, online training class for the certification of small business counselors. The program was used in Oregon, Idaho, North Carolina, and Illinois.

When Joanne was elected president of the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) in 2017, she closed the doors to Market Drafters and working with the Small Business Development Center at the college of Lake County, to devote more time to her additional school board responsibilities.

Joanne serves individuals and organizations so she can say “The world is a better place because I passed this way.”