Mrs Joan John-Norville received her early schooling in Saint Lucia and began her career in agricultural development as a laboratory technician with the Windwards Islands Banana Growers Association (WINBAN) now known as WINFRESH.    In 1983, Mrs Norville graduated from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in General Agriculture and returned to Saint Lucia where she served for twenty-four years in the Public Service.

During her tenure with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Mrs Norville was employed as an agronomist at the Research and Development Division, Senior Research Officer, Deputy Director of Agricultural Services (DAS) and acting DAS prior to her retirement in 2007. Mrs Norville co-ordinated the Crop Research, Crop Development and Livestock Development Programmes of the Ministry as well as the implementation of many initiatives and projects including the national component of the Regional Food Security programme (FAO), Good Agricultural Practices (IICA), Establishment of a Tissue Culture Laboratory (OAS), Biodiversity projects (UNEP/GEF), pests and disease management and post disaster assessment and recovery programmes funded by various development partners.

Joan John-Norville has represented the Ministry on many regulatory and advisory committees and has also represented Saint Lucia in regional and international fora.  She has contributed to the development and implementation of a number of national and regional policies and plans including those relating to agriculture and food security, tourism, disaster mitigation and the management of natural resources.  Joan John-Norville has also been active in other fields of environmental management as chairperson of the Pesticides & Toxic Chemicals Control Board, member of national Biodiversity committees and member of the National Co-coordinating Committee on Biosafety in Saint Lucia.

Following her retirement, she was engaged in consultancies aimed at biodiversity conservation improvement, consultation plan for management of containers, the development of post Hurricane Dean initiatives in Saint Lucia and the promotion and adoption of the Vulnerability Benchmarking Tool (BTool) in Member States of the OECS.  Mrs Norville is currently employed under the CDM HIP and assigned to the OECS Secretariat to assist the organization in the implementation of its Disaster Response and Risk Reduction programme, in particular the community resilience component.  She is married and has three children.