Nicole Boyington, OTD, OTR, is a doctorate-prepared occupational therapist, educator, entrepreneur, literacy advocate, and nonprofit leader whose 26-year career has been defined by a commitment to helping people achieve greater independence, opportunity, and quality of life. Her professional journey spans healthcare delivery, rehabilitation, higher education, dyslexia intervention, organizational leadership, entrepreneurship, and association governance. Across each chapter, Nicole has demonstrated an ability to see individuals and organizations holistically, ask thoughtful questions, challenge conventional approaches, and translate complex needs into practical solutions.
Nicole began her career in occupational therapy, building extensive clinical experience across hospital, outpatient, inpatient rehabilitation, home health, work injury, hand therapy, acute care, and geriatric rehabilitation environments. Working directly with patients and families gave her a deep appreciation for the importance of individualized care, functional independence, patient education, and collaboration. Her clinical foundation also developed an enduring strength that continues to shape her leadership style: understanding problems from the perspective of the people most directly affected by them.
As her career progressed, Nicole moved beyond individual patient care into increasingly significant leadership responsibilities. She managed skilled nursing facilities and ultimately served as an Area Manager overseeing six facilities across Illinois and Iowa. These experiences expanded her perspective from clinical decision-making to operational leadership, requiring her to balance quality, staffing, organizational priorities, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the diverse needs of patients and healthcare professionals. They also strengthened her ability to remain flexible and solution-oriented while leading across multiple environments.
Nicole later brought her clinical expertise into higher education, where she spent approximately eight years educating and preparing future occupational therapy professionals. She served in academic and fieldwork leadership positions at Carroll University and Mount Mary University, including roles as Academic Fieldwork Coordinator, Clinical Assistant Professor, and Assistant Professor. In these positions, Nicole helped connect academic learning with practical clinical experience, developing emerging professionals while working with educational institutions and healthcare partners to support effective fieldwork opportunities.
Her career subsequently expanded into entrepreneurship and pediatric services. Nicole co-owned Occupational Therapy Family Services, an organization created to address children’s psychosocial needs through a holistic approach involving social skills, life skills, anxiety management, mindfulness, and family participation. She also founded Living Well Occupational Therapy, LLC, with a mission centered on collaborating with individuals and families to increase independence in the activities and occupations most meaningful to them. These ventures reflect Nicole’s willingness to recognize unmet needs and build services designed around the people experiencing them.
Literacy and learning differences have become another defining dimension of Nicole’s professional and personal mission. A Certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Interventionist with Orton-Gillingham training, she has spent approximately seven years supporting students with dyslexia and other learning challenges. As the owner of Dyslexia Achievement Center, LLC, Nicole has expanded the organization’s presence in southeastern Wisconsin and transitioned its operating structure from independent contractors to an employee model. The center provides individualized and small-group support in reading, writing, spelling, and mathematics using structured, evidence-informed approaches.
Nicole’s advocacy in this field is deeply informed by her experience as both a professional and a parent of three children with learning differences. That perspective has strengthened her commitment to helping families navigate different learning styles and ensuring that children receive opportunities to build confidence alongside academic skills. Her combination of occupational therapy, structured literacy, psychology, pediatric services, and entrepreneurship enables her to approach learning differences through an unusually broad lens—one that considers not simply academic performance, but the whole person, family system, environment, and path toward independence.
Her professional leadership is complemented by meaningful governance experience. Nicole currently serves as Secretary of the Wisconsin branch of the International Dyslexia Association and previously served as President of the Wisconsin Occupational Therapy Association, following earlier leadership roles including Vice President of Internal Affairs, district co-chair, conference committee responsibilities, and past-president service. She has additionally volunteered through committees associated with the American Occupational Therapy Association and community organizations. Through these experiences, she has developed practical capabilities in governance, strategic planning, organizational leadership, fundraising, professional advocacy, community engagement, and stakeholder collaboration.
Nicole is also an experienced presenter and advocate who has spoken at multiple Wisconsin Occupational Therapy Association conferences and other professional events, including the Circle of Life Conference. As association president, she represented her profession before peers and stakeholders while advancing conversations affecting occupational therapy practice and professional development. Her ability to communicate draws heavily on her clinical and educational background: she listens first, asks questions, translates specialized knowledge into accessible language, and seeks to create productive dialogue among people with different perspectives.
Recognition of Nicole’s entrepreneurial leadership has continued to grow. In 2026, she was selected as a V-List Honoree within the inaugural V-200, recognizing women building purpose-driven, human-centered businesses. She has also been recognized as a People First national entrepreneur and has been quoted in a Waukesha County foundation annual report. These distinctions reflect an entrepreneurial philosophy centered not simply on business growth, but on creating organizations capable of producing meaningful and sustainable benefits for individuals, families, employees, and communities.
Nicole holds a Post-Professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy from Chatham University, a Master of Occupational Therapy from St. Ambrose University, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from St. Ambrose University. Her professional development further encompasses credentials and specialized training related to structured literacy and dyslexia intervention, environmental and home modification, ADHD, aging, and related areas of practice. This multidisciplinary education allows her to connect clinical evidence, human behavior, education, accessibility, and organizational strategy when evaluating complex challenges.
As Nicole looks toward expanded board and advisory service, she brings particular relevance to organizations operating across healthcare, rehabilitation, occupational therapy, education, EdTech, literacy, children’s services, medical devices, health technology, digital health, senior care, behavioral health, learning disabilities, and pediatric healthcare. She is equally open to industries that provide opportunities to learn and contribute from a fresh perspective. Rather than approaching board service as an extension of one narrow specialty, Nicole brings intellectual curiosity, flexibility, thoughtful questioning, and the willingness to examine challenges through multiple lenses.
At the center of Nicole’s leadership philosophy is a belief in possibility. Whether helping a patient regain independence, preparing a student for clinical practice, supporting a child learning to read, developing a business, advocating for a profession, or participating in governance, she consistently seeks ways to move people and organizations forward. Her next chapter of board leadership represents a natural extension of that career—bringing decades of healthcare experience, educational insight, entrepreneurial initiative, governance knowledge, and human-centered thinking to organizations seeking both thoughtful oversight and meaningful impact.
Character:
Nicole leads with empathy, curiosity, flexibility, and a genuine commitment to improving opportunities for others. Her longstanding service to patients, students, families, professional associations, and community organizations demonstrates a leadership philosophy grounded in purpose, responsibility, and meaningful contribution.
Knowledge:
She brings 26 years of experience spanning occupational therapy, healthcare operations, rehabilitation, higher education, pediatric services, structured literacy, dyslexia intervention, and entrepreneurship. Her multidisciplinary background enables her to understand complex challenges through clinical, educational, operational, and human-centered perspectives.
Strategic:
Nicole has progressed from frontline clinical practice to multi-facility management, academia, entrepreneurship, association leadership, and nonprofit governance, giving her an unusually broad understanding of how organizations evolve. She combines strategic questioning with practical execution, consistently looking beyond immediate problems to identify sustainable solutions and opportunities for greater impact.
Communication:
An experienced educator, presenter, association leader, and advocate who is comfortable communicating with professionals, families, students, organizational stakeholders, and community audiences. She creates productive conversations by listening carefully, asking thoughtful questions, translating specialized concepts clearly, and encouraging different perspectives to become part of the solution.
