Working at the intersection of sustainability, technology, and business, JoAnn is a lifelong innovator and entrepreneur driven by curiosity, creativity, and the desire to do well by doing good.
Years in Sustainability
25
Profitable Businesses
4
Programs & Products
100+
JoAnn grew up with an entrepreneurial mindset, launching small businesses and innovations before college. She turned her family kitchen into a restaurant when she was 10, chores into a neighborhood gardening service at 12, and her mural arts skills into a custom rooftop sign business when she was 17. After designing a mascot for her high school, she went on to lead the design of a mascot cooling system at Villanova University. She then leveraged that innovation into a mascot and costume business when she was 22, where her most recognizable sale was to the Seattle Seahawks.
In 2000, JoAnn joined PWI Energy, an energy management advisory firm in Philadelphia, PA, where she led the design and execution of Pfizer’s Global Energy Management Program and co-authored the original City of Philadelphia Climate Action Plan. At the same time, she led the team to create the Energy & Emissions Management System (E2MS), a web-based suite of tools used to track and report the global programs of Pfizer, Wyeth, Dell, Lockheed Martin, Xerox and others. Johnson Controls (JCI) acquired the E2MS and PWI in 2008.
While remaining at JCI during the transition, JoAnn helped grow the business by double digits, while quadrupling the customer list and building new tools like the Tenant Engagement Portal of the Empire State Building. Introducing the practices of human-centered design, she led the Energy & Sustainability Advisory Services team for the Americas to design and support the global programs of 30 major corporations and institutions.
JoAnn then founded KnowE, a knowledge engineering firm providing advisory services while developing a WealthTech platform designed to accelerate the growth of values-based investing several years before the ESG investing trend emerged. She tripled revenue over three years and prototyped the platform.
JoAnn later accepted an opportunity to join one of her advisory clients. As chief innovation officer at Aircuity, she led the development and co-led the execution of a company-wide strategy addressing people, product, quality, sales and service. By 2017, she delivered Aircuity 2.0, a complete redevelopment of its offering - enabling a new, future-ready value proposition as a smart building platform.
