Joanne Osmond is a reformer and change agent bring order and organization to any organization. She has received several professional awards for transforming individuals and organizations. As an advisor and small business owner, Joanne worked with the Illinois Small Business Development Center at the College of Lake County for fifteen years in assisting entrepreneurs move to the next level. In 2002, Joanne Osmond founded The Vision Tree, Ltd., to help women improve their business skills through coaching, workshop facilitation using Insights Programs as the foundation, and publishing self-help business books. She assists women by helping them publish their books, organizes networking groups, provides counseling at the Small Business Development Center at the College of Lake County, and facilitates classes and events for entrepreneurs.

She assisted in developing and organizing business workshops including a series of online training courses for small business owners. The books she has authored and published cover business planning, Scouting, and a collection of stories about her daughter who has Down’s syndrome. Joanne is a frequent speaker in her community and at national conferences. She writes and speaks on topics such as “The Book Within You”, “Are You Ready to Start Your Own Business?”, “I’m listening. You’re listening. Why aren’t we communicating?”, and “Networking is More Than Showing Up.” In 2013, she and Claudia Pannell presented “SBDC New Global Classroom” at the annual ASBDC Conference.

She received the ATHENA Award in 2003 for assisting women in reaching their full leadership potential while demonstrating excellence, creativity, and initiative in her profession and providing valuable services to improve the quality of life for others in the community. In 2004, the Lake County, Illinois, media recognized her as one of the “Leaders in the Forefront” and in 2013, she was recognized as a Lake County Women of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.)

Joanne received a BS from Purdue University and an MBA and Masters in Information Systems from Webster University. Over her fifteen years at Abbott Laboratories, Joanne’s goal was operational excellence by developing the right organization, processes, and technology to provide consistent delivery of end-to-end customer support. Her leadership at Abbott’s Support Center resulted in receiving the Help Desk Institute’s Team Excellence Award in March 2000.

To fill a need in her community, Joanne founded Market Drafters in 2007 to provide Web hosting and design for small businesses and not-for-profit organizations. She ensures quality at a price they can afford by building sites from templates then assisting the owner in maintaining their own Web sites.

Joanne is currently an online instructor for BYUI. She guides students from around the world in stating their own business.

She is the recipient of the Boy Scout’s Silver Beaver Award and served on the Council’s Executive Board as the Vice President of Membership for ten years. She has served on the Lake Villa Elementary School Board for over 25 years and serves as the President of the Special Education of Lake County Executive Board. For ten years, Joanne was elected by her peers in Lake County to serve as the Director on the state association board. She was elected by her peers statewide to serve as vice-president then president of the Illinois Association of School Boards for 2016-20. She continues to server on her Local School Board and on the Executive Board of the Special Education District of Lake County.