About Joanna Conti

Joanna grew up in Wilmington, Delaware in love with the Chesapeake Bay.  As a toddler, she would curl up in the sail bag of her dad's sailing dinghy and sleep through any kind of weather.   When she was 11, her father finished building a 33-foot sail boat in their backyard.  The picture on the left is Joanna during one of her first trips on the Skimmer.  After the Skimmer was moored at Worton Creek Marina, the family spent many happy weekends on the Chesapeake, visiting Annapolis as often as possible.

Joanna graduated with a degree in chemical engineering in 1979 from the University of Delaware.  Following brand management stints with Procter & Gamble and Campbell Soup Company, she started the first of several small food and software companies in 1987.  During the mid-1990s, she earned her Master's degree in International Business and worked with consulting clients to introduce new products in the U.S., Argentina and Japan.

By this time, Joanna was living in Golden, Colorado with her second husband, Peter, and their blended family of four children.  As much as they loved Colorado, they returned as often as possible to see their families in Maryland and Delaware and enjoy the Chesapeake Bay.

In 2000, Joanna founded the Alliance for Youth Achievement, a non-profit that has helped tens of thousands of orphans in eight countries in Africa and Asia via micro-credit and micro-grant programs, partnerships with informal schools, group homes, and medical missions, and teacher training programs. Over $2.6 million has been raised to date for AYA’s life-changing programs.

Joanna became so concerned with the direction our country was going in 2003 that she decided to get involved in politics. Joanna was the Democratic challenger to Rep. Tom Tancredo in Colorado’s Congressional District 6 in 2004. Despite raising over $800,000 and receiving the endorsement of three out of four of the district’s papers, Joanna could not overcome the 2-to-1 Republican registration advantage in the district.

As the three older girls prepared to leave for college, Joanna and her husband were free to move back East.  After falling in love with Annapolis all over again, Joanna, Peter and their 11-year-old son moved here in the summer of 2006.  Joanna spent a year as a Fellow in Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service studying foreign policy and then became the President and C.E.O. of a multi-million-dollar real estate education company. After successfully restructuring the company to thrive in today's tough economic times, Joanna founded Make Maryland Great, Inc. in the hopes the group could help solve some of the toughest problems facing Maryland.

In this very difficult economic time, Joanna believes she can best serve her new home by using her managerial experience to strengthen Anne Arundel County for the future.