CEO & Chief Troublemaker
Joanna is the CEO and Chief Troublemaker at Matrix Group (yes, we said, “chief troublemaker”). She founded the company in 1999. Under her leadership, Matrix Group has grown into one of the top web design and development agencies in the Washington, DC area.
In addition to being a leading web design and custom development shop, Joanna has led the company to develop a web-based Association Management Software (AMS) product, MatrixMaxx, which is used by many associations nationally, and a virtual meeting platform, BeSpeake, which has hosted countless successful virtual and hybrid meetings for many prominent associations.
Her leadership has not gone unrecognized. In 2009, she was honored by SmartCEO Magazine, as one of its “Top 100 Business Leaders,” and by Washingtonian Magazine as one of the top “100 Leaders in the DC Tech World,” or, as she phrased it, a leading “techie.” In 2004, The Washington Business Journal named her one of the area’s most influential businesswomen.
She’s also been featured in the Washington Post, Associations Now, Wall Street Journal and Forbes Magazine, as well as on Executive Leadership Radio.
Joanna is actively involved in the community. She is Committee Chair and Den Leader of a Cub Scout pack, and a merit badge counselor of a Boy Scout troop. She is on the ASAE Public Poilcy Committee, and the Awards committee for the Association of Women Technology Champions.
Joanna speaks regularly at association and industry conferences on the topics of: member journeys, analytics and being data-driven, communications best practices, and digital transformation.
Prior to starting Matrix Group, Joanna was President of Business Information Network, a Web development company. Joanna received her Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Stanford University and Master’s degree from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
When she’s not wearing her CEO hat, Joanna is mom to her two adorable sons C.J. and M.J.
Fun Facts About Joanna
- She’s a black belt in Taekwondo and Hapkido, two Korean martial arts.
- She is a BIG podcaster! So big that she has two podcasts:
- Associations Thrive celebrates successful associations and their leaders. Every Thursday, Joanna interviews an association or nonprofit CEO about their journeys and the things their organizations are doing different to thrive.
- K Drama Chat is all about Korean dramas. Each season, Joanna and her co-host (college buddy Sung Hee) take one amazing K Drama and recap and analyze each episode.
- She makes a killer banana bread.
- She was a D.J. in high school and still loves music from all genres!
- She loves the color purple (ok, we’re sure you figured this one out) and even drives a purple Miata!
- She speaks four languages and is working on a fifth (ask her which one sometime).
