Education & Work Experience

Nancy M. Picard, Ph.D., Founder & CEO of MemoryBeach Company

 

How long has Nancy been thinking about MemoryBeach? 

 

Since 1998, as she worked through her, "Aging and Adult Development" concentration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Nancy has been a business consultant, management psychologist, therapist, and has completed cognitive assessments for people from the ages of 4 to 94. Her undergraduate degree is in English and Public Relations/Journalism, followed by her Ph.D. in counseling psychology. She has been more active in developing her business plan and intellectual property for the company since 2014, when it was founded.

By combining psychology, art, science, coding, and design, Nancy hopes to bridge the interface between “typical” methods of helping cue people to remember and retain imporant information for themselves and for those for whom they are providing care.

What was her dissertation topic? 

 

The Construction of Self as Caring: Personal Care Workers in Home Care With Elderly Clients

 

What's her formal education? 

 

4 years undergrad (English/emphasizing Psychoanalytic Discourse and Deconstruction, Public Relations dual major), Grad School (2 years MS degree Counseling Psychology), Ph.D. (4 years), Pre-Doctoral Training (1 year), Post-Doctoral Training (VA, Child Guidance Clinic, RHR International) 2 years. She attended high school both abroad (at a Department of Defense School in Naples, Italy), and in Pennsylvania, and some of her elementary schooling in Hawaii. 

 

What has she been doing since 2000? 

 

Nancy put herself through undergraduate and graduate school as an education and business consultant. She has worked all types of related communication jobs, as a graphic designer, writer, public relations consultant, marketing consultant, and database/software and educational consultant to the US government in several roles... to an educational consultant to the State of Wisconsin's long-term care program up until she received her degree.

 

She had pre-doctoral training at an in patient-geriatric facility in Madison, Wisconsin, and post-doctoral training through Veteran's Affairs Healthcare System in Northampton, Massachusetts.

 

During her pre- and post-doctoral additional training and support of children and their families in a Medicaid clinic, she also freelanced for the VA in the areas of veteran's rehabilitation through work programs as well as hospital re-accreditation.

 

In 2001, she moved to Chicago, looking for work as a clinician. The transition to management consulting drew on her business consulting experience, and she worked for a decade with top teams, CEOs, boards and high potential executives across the US, Europe and Asia.

 

Nancy was eventually assigned to lead research and development at her management consulting firm. Nancy has consulted to more than 40 organizations in health care, real estate, human services, manufacturing, energy, insurance, government, consumer products (personal care, pet food, retail electronics), legal services, and membership organizations. She established her own firm in 2011.