Awards
- Presidents Circle Laurel Pin (2018)
- Benefactor
About Nancy E. Carpenter
Nancy E. Carpenter earned her B.A. in Biological Sciences in 1979 alongside an Environmental Studies certificate. She is a Kappa Alpha Theta alumna. Nancy joined her husband, Jim, in building his store, Wild Birds Unlimited, into a franchise. She was vital in growing the business from the 1980s until the early 1990s when she decided to step back and change her attention towards raising her daughters. Wild Birds Unlimited was surveyed with 500 franchises for satisfaction, and were ranked no. 11 in satisfaction and no. 1 in the retail category in Franchise Business Review’s 2017 awards. The Carpenters became interested in neurological disease when Nancy’s mother, Sarah, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Originally designated as a bequest, Nancy wanted to further Alzheimer’s research soon and established the Sarah Roush Memorial Professorship in Alzheimer’s Disease Research in her mother’s memory. This postdoctoral fellowship propels current research in the field of Alzheimer’s disease or other neurodegenerative dementing illnesses. James and Nancy were inducted into the Presidents Circle at the Benefactor level in 2018.