JoAnn’s life has taken her on some unexpected turns. In 1991, she recognized a friend from her childhood at the grocery store and the rest – as they say – is history. The pair married in 1994. When JoAnn first reconnected with her now husband, he had recently joined the United States Navy as an airman on the USS Eisenhower in Norfolk, Virginia. “We reconnected, and I was excited to begin married life together. I also knew with my husband in the military, his service would be a commitment for us both, and that could feel a bit daunting at times,” JoAnn said.
Soon after their wedding, JoAnn’s husband left the Navy to join the Naval Reserves at the Millington Naval Air Station outside of Memphis, Tennessee. He also later began a career with the Memphis Fire Department alongside his work in the reserves. This was the civilian life JoAnn had pictured for herself.
Fast-forward to 2004 and 10 years of marriage: the US Naval Reserves were called to active duty in Iraq and JoAnn’s husband would begin a full-time military career again with tours taking him to Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, including a transition from the Navy to the Army, as well as being stationed in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky and Texas..
“We came full circle,” JoAnn said. “And all that changed when my husband returned to serving full-time in the military. I became a military spouse while I was pregnant with our second child. We jumped into reactivation and he was off to serve in Iraq.”
While her husband served tours for a year at a time, JoAnn worked full-time and was the primary caregiver to their kids. She had a support system, but she lived away from the military base and felt distanced from the resources available there. Still, she worked to maintain some feeling of normalcy for her family. “In one year I put over 60,000 miles on my vehicle just trying to keep up with the day-to-day and to get myself and my kids to work, school and to extracurricular activities.”
To current military families, JoAnn shares what she learned from her experience during these years:
“Don’t be afraid to accept help when people offer,” she said. “During the time my husband was serving, I tried to manage everything at home myself. When people offered to help, I declined, and in the process of saying, ‘No, I can do this,’ it physically and mentally wore me out. Take advantage of the military resources that are available and know that there are so many people out there willing to help.”
Changing Roles Professionally and Personally
In 2015, JoAnn and her husband were both entering another transition in both of their careers. Her husband looked towards retirement from the Army as an Officer and JoAnn began interviewing for a new job with Syneos Health in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“We did a ‘parent swap’,” she explained. “I was always full time with our kids while he served in the military and worked with the fire department, and then we came to a new chapter where I was going to be the parent working out of town. We didn’t want to uproot our kids, so he assumed the role of the full-time parent in Memphis while continuing to work for the fire department, and I came out to Raleigh to see if Syneos Health was the place I wanted to be.”
And JoAnn did find Syneos Health to be the fitting next step for her career. Today she is the Director of Equity and Retirement Services overseeing the US Retirement Plans, Global Equity Compensation and Employee Stock Purchase Plans
Initially, JoAnn did not know anyone in Raleigh, NC when she joined the Company, and so her colleagues became some of her first local friends. “Aside from school, it was my first time living outside of Memphis. But I met people here who were friendly and approachable, and I became attached to them. They showed me the ropes. During the work week I would learn more about the area from my coworkers, and on the weekends I would check out their recommendations.”
Paying it Forward
Today, JoAnn is similarly helping new colleagues transition to the next chapter in their lives and careers as a member of the Syneos Health Veterans Employee Resource Group (ERG). One of the priorities of the Veterans ERG is to make the move to civilian life easier for veteran employees, and JoAnn can lend her experience as a military spouse whose family has since stepped back into civilian life. She partners with a veteran colleague in HR to offer individual benefits guidance to veterans or veteran spouses joining Syneos Health.
“There are a lot of details to consider in the transition to civilian work life,” JoAnn says. “For instance, you are now responsible for your benefits and retirement future instead of the government. We’re here to speak with veterans or veteran spouses about their benefit options and answer any of their questions about what to expect.”
