Sister Jo Ann Miller 

Have you met Sister Jo Ann Miller? This woman is truly one of a kind. Whenever you encounter Jo Ann, you will see how uniquely insightful she is about the human condition, particularly in the way she observes and names the talents and strengths of those around her… and certainly as she describes her own.

Jo Ann’s capacity to do this with great accuracy and insight is the result of her decades-long commitment to talent identification and development through Dr. Don Clifton’s talent research. Sister Jo Ann’s ability to touch lives for the better is just one of the many reasons we celebrate her on this, her 70th Jubilee!

Sister Jo Ann’s active ministry stretched over 54 years of education ministry: eight years as a history teacher at Alvernia High School; six years as a teacher-educator and director of Associated Colleges of the Midwest’s (ACM) Urban Education Program; and 40 years with SRI/Gallup in a nationwide ministry based out of Lincoln, Nebraska. Now in retirement, Sister Jo Ann continues to use her talents to benefit others.

While with ACM, the 12-college consortium based in Chicago, Jo Ann trained with Dr. Clifton and was inspired by his early research on teaching talent. Dr. Clifton, president of SRI, then recruited Jo Ann to join the education team in his company. Sister Jo Ann moved from Chicago to Lincoln in 1974 for an initial six-month stint that lasted 40 years!

In 1988, SRI acquired Gallup and grew into a global company with several thousand associates. Sister Jo Ann reflects, “As exciting as the world grew around me, I was always able to pursue my chosen ministry: teaching education and church leaders sophisticated research-based selection tools to identify and develop talented personnel, thus enriching the lives of those selected, and countless others.”

True to her talent, after retiring from Gallup and moving to Milwaukee in 2014, Jo Ann soon established a nonprofit Strengths Development Center with a mission to provide training to individuals using the CliftonStrengths Assessment in education and non-profit organizations.

The School Sisters of St. Francis have always been part of Jo Ann’s life story, from her earliest childhood memories in Aurora, Illinois, at St. Joseph School and Madonna High School. She reflects that being around extraordinary women became “ordinary” for her, and she continues to be tremendously grateful for living closely with such talented women. She reflects that having grown up in such a supportive growth environment, “my ministry choices reflected my natural capacity to initiate and lead.”

When Sister Jo Ann received the Golden Jubilarian Award from Alverno College in 2022, she spoke about the phrase “Alverno STRONG,” which appears in many places on campus. Jo Ann reminded the audience that Sister Austin Doherty had once put it this way: “The most basic need of [Alverno] students is the development of a permanent sense of their own worth as thinkers and doers.” Sister Jo Ann continued, “Sister Austin Doherty…awakened the STRONG in me.”

This year, we celebrate the unique, gifted, strong sister who lives and laughs with us, who encourages and strengthens us, and who continues to minister in this world as part of us. We celebrate Sister Jo Ann Miller. We are proud to call her our sister!

As you celebrate your 70th year Jubilee, Sister Jo Ann, we congratulate you on all the ways that you have shared the School Sisters of St. Francis ministry by believing in people and encouraging them to discover their talents.