Joanne H. Osmond

216 Waterbury Circle – Lake Villa, IL 60046
847-356-7550 (R) – 847-833-2546 (C) – joanne@TheVisionTree.com

Award winning entrepreneurial executive with a record of accomplishment of continuous process improvements that delivered more than $2,500,000 in hard-dollar cost savings. Planned, developed, and implemented cutting-edge Customer Service solutions that addressed business opportunities and provided stable technical environments. Solid technical training, team building, management development, and customer service skills. Developed new technology for critical applications of hardware and software. MBA and Masters in Information Management.

Areas of expertise:

Business Planning	Customer Support	Crisis Management
Global Strategic Planning	Contract Management	Trouble-Shooting
Project Management	Team Building	Problem-Solving
P&L and Budgeting	Training	Marketing
Communication	Writing / Publishing	Capacity Planning

She possesses unique ability to turn every opportunity into a profitable outcome.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

The Vision Tree, Ltd., 2003 – Present

Leads organization focused on individual, team, and business effectiveness, assisting businesses with expertise in improving customer service, processes, communication, and work dynamics through coaching and custom in-person and on-line training.

Provides ongoing consulting and instruction at the Lake Villa District Library..

Market Drafters, Inc., 2007 – 2016

Leads organization that provides self-managed web site design and hosting for individuals, small businesses, and not-for-profit organizations.

Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL, 1988 – 2003

International Fortune 200 leader in technologies across health care spectrum including pharmaceutical, diagnostic, nutritional, and hospital products with $16 billion in revenues, 70,000 employees in 130 countries.

Senior Manager, Abbott Support Center, 1999 – 2003

Developed and maintained corporate, divisional, and vendor partnerships. Lead strategic planning and business development for broad range of IT-related services. Directed recruitment, retention, and development of IT support services staff including Help Desk, Client Workstation Services, Processes, Metrics and Measurements, and Support Technology Departments.

¨       P&L accountability for $7 million expense and $2 million capital budget; with five direct and 70 indirect reports providing direct support for 20,000 employees locally.

Changed the image of 24x7x365 IT Help Desk / Customer Care Center by defining an organizational structure that responded to the business need, fostered a culture that focused on customer needs, implemented technology that enhanced the employees’ ability to provide customer satisfaction, and established processes that enabled service providers to work together.

¨       Received a very prestigious, International recognition (Help Desk Institute’s Team Excellence Award, 2000) for implementing the transformation and decreasing cost per incident 29% while volume increased 19%.

¨       Centralized support processes resulting in 19% ($1,000,000) savings.

¨       Increased internal sales 24%, decreased expenses 5%, and decreased cost / incident 30% while improving customer satisfaction from 3.2 to 3.6 on a 4.0 scale.

 

Manager, Technology Site Services, 1995 – 1999

Monitored electronic security for 20,000 employees. Managed divisional software licenses, provided network, main-frame, Internet, and e-mail access to ADD applications. Documented and enforced practices and procedures to ensure compliance with corporate audit requirements. Provided asset management for 5,000 employees in corporate and regional sales offices. Developed value-managed relationships with internal and external IT suppliers, maximized vendor contributions, reduced complexity of service fulfillment, improved quality, and decreased cycle time. P&L responsibility for $3 million expense and $7 million capital budgets; three direct and nineteen indirect reports.

¨       Received two Delta Awards for implementing security administration process improvements in 1998.

Centralized asset management by developing common practices, standardizing hardware and software configurations, and defining efficiencies that streamlined purchasing of hardware and software. Ensured compliance with software licensing; managed vendor relationships to decrease turn-around time from initial requests. Designed hardware lifecycle processes to improve efficiency. Implemented training for software launch to 5,000 employees.

¨       Received President’s Award for centralized acquisition of division’s assets that saved 15% ($1,000,000) in 1996.

Developed cohesive security administrative team to support 5,000+ users including documentation of security processes and cross-training team members.

¨       Benchmark initiatives adopted by corporation.

Sr. Project Manager, 1992 – 1995

Programmed, tested, documented, and distributed Visual Basic applications for corporate headquarters and sales force. Provided first-level support for field sales, hardware, custom applications, and security. Jointly evaluated training providers with corporate training to produce consistent services. Developed computer training strategy. Chaired committee of divisional and USO IS management to define Help Desk services; set expectations resulting in Documents of Understanding and a Notes repository. P&L responsibility for $400,000 expense and $1,500,000 capital budgets; six direct reports.

¨       Brought in $1,000,000 Monarch systems acquisition networking project on time and within budget.

¨       Negotiated national (instead of regional) contract that covered hardware for 1,000 remote users, saving 20% ($50,000) annually.

¨       Saved 10% ($300,000) annually by replacement of legacy systems through application development and capital acquisition.

¨       Received Chairman’s Award for development of sales automation tools that contributed to increased sales of 10% ($26,000,000).

Other position held at Abbott – Systems Analyst, 1988 – 1992

PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS

Presenter at national and international conferences: Business Development (ASTD International Conference) 2006; Insightful Communication (Insights International Conference) 2005; Help Desk Metrics & Measurement, 2000, 2001; Value Managed Relationships, 2000, 2001; Help Desk Morale, 2000; The C.A.V.E. Method of Help Desk Funding, 2002; Aligning IT Measurements with Business Strategy, 2002; Defining Value of IT Support, 2003.

Author of workbooks – “Are You Ready? To Start Your Own Business”, “Business Survival – Implementing Your Business Plan”, “The Book Within You”, “Strategic Planning for Small Businesses”, and two books used in training Boy Scout leaders.

EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATIONS

Webster University, Northbrook, IL Campus; Master of Business Administration; Master of Information Management

Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN; BS Vocational Education.

RECOGNITION

In 2003 received ATHENA Award for assisting women in reaching their full leadership potential while demonstrating excellence, creativity, and initiative and providing valuable services to improve the quality of life for others in the community. In 2004 selected by the media as one of ten leaders in the Forefront. In 2004 received the Boy Scouts of America’s Silver Beaver Award (the highest award presented regionally) and in 2017 received the ¡Scouting…Vale la Peña! Service Award for service to under represented youth in Lake County, IL.

As a School Board Member elected by peers to represent all Lake County School Boards on the Illinois Association of School Boards Board of Directors. Served as Vice President of Membership on BSA Council Executive Board.