JoAnne Page
President and Chief Executive Officer

JoAnne has over 40 years experience in criminal justice, with the last 24 of those years at the helm of The Fortune Society, a non-profit organization that has been recognized by researchers and policy makers as a pioneer in assisting former prisoners to reintegrate into society.

Under JoAnne’s stewardship, Fortune’s innovative and successful initiatives have become models for similar programs across the country. This includes the opening of the groundbreaking Fortune Academy, a nationally recognized residence housing for men and women who have been released from prison into homelessness.  With the Academy, JoAnne took an abandoned drug den and eyesore to the community and turned it into a place of hope and understanding.  While this project was initially met with resistance from the community, it has since been embraced; those who were once outside the building waving picket signs are now inside breaking bread with the residents. In 2009, Fortune broke ground on a green, mixed affordable and supportive housing development with 114 units and 20,000 square feet of service space.

A graduate of Yale Law School, JoAnne is a frequent speaker at conferences and presentations about alternatives to incarceration, HIV case management, and criminal justice issues. She has also been a featured interview guest on such national television programs as, CNN, Court TV, NBC News, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, The O’Reilly Factor and Rivera Geraldo.