About MND
MND has deep experience in creating exceptional materials for finserv and professional services, technology, educational nonprofit organizations, and cultural heritage institutions.
MND Branding + Design Services
Bringing Brands to Life
A brand isn’t just your logo, it’s the confluence of strategy, messaging, data, tools, templates, and visuals—seamlessly executed across different media. When built well, your brand can inform and strengthen your dialogue with prospects, clients, and your own employees.
We employ a unique, common-sense approach that we call Brick-by-Brick Branding which combines exceptional design with smart, user-ready tools and templates that, employed together, are the building blocks of a strong brand.
Our approach is equal parts strategy, inspiration, great design, and templates—from your PowerPoint, to your website, to your latest employee’s business card, and everything in between.
Whether we’re starting from scratch or working within an existing brand, MND knows how and where to apply pressure to get your materials and your brand where they need to go.
MND for Cultural Heritage Institutions
Designing the Future of History
MND combines exceptionally strong communication skills with a deep understanding of and appreciation for history—which can help you leverage your messages and reach new audiences.
Museums, libraries, and archives are no strangers to external forces affecting access, digitization, and context. Most are having to do more with less while the ever-changing media landscape demands content in more formats.
Representative Clients + Services
= Brand-Design and Brand-Strategy
= Archival Services and Preservation Consulting
= Marketing Services
= PowerPoint and Presentation Services
= Website and Intranet Services
= Event, Exhibit, and Trade Show Services
FinSrv + Professional Services
Altrinsic Global Advisors
Barclays
Brio Benefits Consulting
Broadridge / Paladyne
Cabot Wealth Management
Cape Ann Capital.
Capstone Investment Advisors.
Drexel Morgan Capital Advisers
Goldman Sachs
Harding Loevner LP
The Haverford Trust Company
Hirtle Callaghan & Co.
NorthRoad Capital Management
Option3Ventures
Paloma Partners LLC
SEI / SEI Wealth Network
Solomon Edwards LLC
Technology
KDDI America / Telehouse America
Nobel Biocare
Pharmacist Partners LLC
Psionic Doppler Lidar Navigation (NASA-founded commercial entity)
Time Warner Cable Business Class
Consumer
Mars-Wrigley
Pinnacle Foods Group
Media + Events
The Barclays FedEx Cup / PGA
Braithwaite Communications
Sherri
Thirteen / WNET
The Wendy Williams Show
Professional + Educational Nonprofits
The Center for Holistic Defense
The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) / CGI U
City Harvest
CSH—Corporation for Supportive Housing
Doc to Dock
Dress for Success
Fordham University School of Law
The Genealogical Society of New Jersey
The Genealogical Society of Bergen County, NJ
History Camp
The History List—Rare Finds
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
The National Genealogical Society
New York Genealogical and Biographical Society (NYG&B)
The Pursuit of History
RAPID Manufacturing Institute / AIChE
Science Philanthropy Alliance, a project of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
St. Francis College
The Visiting Nurse Association Health Group of NJ
Galleries, Museums, Libraries, Archives, + Estates
Bergen County Historical Society, Archival Collections
New–York Historical Society (Archives Processing Intern)
The Pilgrim Hall Museum
[Private Estate] (archival inventory and processing, assessment and collection consultation, August 2024)
[Private Estate] (archival inventory and processing, assessment and collection consultation, June 2024]
Seth Kaller, Inc.
The Pursuit of Liberty—2026 National Roadshow
Michelle D. Novak, MI, is a professional archivist, brand designer and strategist, writer and editor, and instructor.
Novak received her Masters of Information degree (MI, formerly, MLIS) in Archives and Preservation from Rutgers University (summa cum laude) and holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She also holds professional certificates from Boston University School for Continuing Education, Gen-Fed Institute for Federal Records at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, and the Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh, the ZAG Branding Master Class, among others.
She has developed brands and big projects for start-up companies to former President Clinton’s global philanthropy foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative. Her brand work has been, and continues to be, her lifelong passion—and her branding and strategy is used by for-profit and non-profit clients around the country.
A lifelong history nerd, Novak sees a lot of overlap in the management of brand assets and the structure of libraries and archives—in that both collect, organize, preserve, provide access, and interpret ephemeral materials. These historic materials can help present-day researchers and entities understand its past and experiences which can help inform future initiatives.
Novak is an active volunteer for numerous historical and genealogical societies and is Trustee and Webmaster for the Genealogical Society of Bergen County (GSBC) and a former Trustee of the Genealogical Society of New Jersey (GSNJ). She is Editor of the GSBC’s national award-winning newsletter, The Archivist, and is involved with numerous transcription, indexing, publicity, and digitization projects. During her tenure with GSNJ, she created a comprehensive index for the Society’s 70+ year old Bible Records Collection from numerous indexes supplied in various paper and digital forms. The resulting index consolidates the disparate sources and contains more than 35,000 entries for 6,500 records. She also revamped the Society’s website, finding aids, social media, membership materials, exhibit materials, and newsletter.
Novak serves as Project Administrator for the New Jersey Early Land Records Project, a joint project between the Genealogical Society of New Jersey and the GSNJ-New Jersey State Archives. The project is currently indexing and digitizing (partial) more than 80,000 pre-1800 land records—which were in private hands from 1664 until only a few years ago.
She is also a teacher, and her professional talks about Microsoft Word and PowerPoint have been conducted at SEI, AIG, the Association of Professional Genealogists, among others. She has lectured on technology, digitization, and genealogical topics at local, regional, and national conferences including the National Genealogical Society Family History Conference, Association of Professional Genealogists Professional Management Conference, New England Regional Genealogical Conference, and is developing a digitization workshop.
Talks + Workshops
Novak is an experienced presenter and has presented on numerous topics at local, regional, and national events—online and in-person.
A particular specialty is digitization and organization, with delivers a healthy mix of “how-to” with best practices and wit.