Profile: Joanne Even, business development director, Executive Education

Please help us welcome Joanne Even to the Robins School of Business’ Executive Education team! She joins the group from the Community College Workforce Alliance. Read our interview with Joanne below to get to know our newest member. 

Q: Tell us about your professional background.

A: I actually started my career in marketing. I worked for 20 years before I decided to go back to school and get a master’s degree in adult education. I fell in love with the learning and development field and wondered why I hadn’t stumbled into it sooner.  After graduating, I started working with a process consulting group, and then pretty quickly moved over to the Community College Workforce Alliance as a client solutions manager, managing consulting and training engagements here in Richmond.

Q: Where’s home for you?

A: I grew up in Connecticut, but when I started looking at colleges, I picked the state of Virginia as somewhere I wanted to be. I fell in love with the Washington and Lee campus as soon as I saw it, so I did my undergraduate work there. I studied politics (not sure what I was going to do with that!) and then moved to Richmond after graduation. I visited Connecticut a lot, but I never moved back home, and just this past summer my Mom  moved down here. I’m really glad to have her here. My other family includes my sister, who lives in Kentucky, and my two rescued Golden Retrievers, who are just the loves of my life.

Q: The business development director role is new to Executive Education. What are your goals for the position?

A: Executive Education has been a success for years and with a specific focus now on business development, which is my role, I think we’re really on that verge of taking this program to the next level. That’s what I’m excited about – being a part of that opportunity to grow the program into something big. Dr. Raggio, the executive director, is very open to new ideas and brainstorming about ways to bring value to the business community and bring value and recognition to the University, the Robins School, and the faculty here.

Q: What are you most looking forward to about joining the Robins School team?

A: I’m excited to be at this point with Executive Education, ready to grow and try new things.  It’s a phenomenal group, and I think it’s going to be so much fun to be building something with them. 

You can connect with Joanne Even at jeven@richmond.edu