Sit down with Joyce Nardulli '84 for a few minutes and it doesn't take long to realize this woman is genuinely passionate about her family, her work, her faith, and most clearly her education. She exudes strength and determination coupled with enthusiasm and sheer honesty - characteristics she's worn as armor in the face of numerous personal battles.
As vice president of government relations for the Illinois Bankers Association, today this highly regarded lobbyist enjoys the professional success that years of hard work and personal resolve can bring. Yet she takes nothing for granted. She's learned to make the most of what's around the next corner and for good reason. Joyce has withstood some of life's most challenging tests, from unemployment, to serious health problems, to single parenthood. She's persevered through each thanks to her firm belief in God and unflinching personal mettle.
By the time Joyce was 25 she had been married, divorced, and was a single mother scraping to get by. She had quit college after just a year and found herself alone and trying to provide for her two-year-old daughter, Monica. With no college degree, the options were few. Although she had a steady job as a supervisor at a credit bureau, Joyce and her daughter weren't making it on her modest salary. A factory job in Lincoln offered more money. It also proved to be an epiphany for Joyce and a major turning point in her life. "I went to work in the factory where I doubled my pay, but it was culture shock. I hated it. I knew then that I had to get my degree."
In between the mind-numbing work on the factory assembly line and caring for her daughter, Joyce spent every possible moment studying. For six years she worked on her degree and ultimately graduated with a BA in Communication in 1984.
Joyce was hired to work on the Issues Development Staff for the Illinois House Democrats. It was the beginning of what would become a very successful government affairs career, but it too was culture shock of a different kind. "I didn't have a political bone in my body. I didn't know anything about politics. I'm sitting there wondering, 'What am I doing in this place?' Nearly everyone was politically connected except me." It was the middle of the legislative session and Joyce was on her own to figure out the political nuances under the Capitol dome. "I self taught. I read books about Illinois taxation and about Mayor Daley, and I learned for myself what I was doing there." Writing for 18 legislators Joyce quickly sharpened her knowledge of key issues affecting all parts of the state.
From those early days on the House Democratic Staff where she walked in knowing virtually nothing about politics, Joyce built a solid reputation as a politically astute and dependable professional. She advanced to the Illinois State Medical Society as Assistant Vice President of State Legislative Affairs in 1991. In 2003 Joyce joined the Illinois Bankers Association. As a business lobbyist who has spent 20 years making and breaking numerous legislative deals, Joyce enjoys sharing her many "trials by fire." However, it is the topic of education and how it changed her life that elicits a strong emotional response.
"The university was a safety net for me. I had nowhere else to go to get a college education," says Joyce who is moved to tears when she talks about the independence and opportunity that UIS provided. "If it hadn't been there I would still be working in a factory. I think about all the people who have gone there as adults because they have children and they can't travel and they have nowhere else to go. They have to rely on this university. I think about how a few decades ago it didn't exist. It's important that it stays strong and viable for future generations."
A small town farm girl turned influential lobbyist, Joyce realized the power of a college degree as she stood on a factory assembly line, and she's doing all she can to make sure the next person with limited options has the same opportunities that she has enjoyed. She urges her fellow alumni not to take their education or their university for granted. "When you look at the cuts that have occurred at UIS, people have to wake up and realize that if you are not an active alum your university may be compromised and this community could lose the quality educational institution that it has come to rely upon."
A dedicated volunteer herself, Joyce is immediate past chair of the UIS Campus Alumni Advisory Board and a member of the U of I Alumni Association Board of Directors. She routinely volunteers to assist with the WUIS pledge drive. She has served as the alumni speaker at commencement for the past three years, and she is a frequent advocate for the university before lawmakers in Springfield.
Joyce is married to Judge Steve Nardulli. The couple has three children Jake, 14, Jessica 17, and Monica Williams, 28. They are the proud grandparents of Emma, 3, and Britton Williams, 1.
