Who We Are
Dr. Maureen Manning
Founder & Managing Director
Dr. Maureen Manning is the Founder and Managing Director of The Global Nexus Collective, a leading public relations firm in the global education sector. With more than three decades of experience in international education, she works with universities, associations, and education-focused organizations to strengthen executive communications, clarify institutional narrative, and elevate global positioning. Known for her ability to translate complex ideas into compelling, high-impact messaging, Maureen advises senior leaders on how to align mission, message, and market presence in an increasingly competitive global landscape.
Her work is grounded in a deep understanding of how institutions articulate the value and return on investment of global learning, education abroad, and work-integrated learning experiences. Maureen’s approach combines academic rigor with strategic insight, helping organizations move beyond activity-driven communications toward clear, evidence-informed narratives that resonate with stakeholders. She has led high-profile initiatives across the sector, including organizational rebrands, thought leadership campaigns, and global convenings that bring together senior leaders to engage with emerging trends shaping the future of international education.
A frequent keynote speaker, moderator, and facilitator, Maureen has presented at leading conferences and institutions around the world. Widely recognized for her ability to connect people, ideas, and strategy, Maureen is known for helping organizations tell their story in a way that drives influence, credibility, and measurable impact.
Shaun Morgan
Chief Operating Officer
Throughout his career, Shaun Morgan has been committed to expanding access to global learning, building international partnerships, and supporting the academic and personal success of students. His leadership has strengthened global engagement through innovative programs, collaborative initiatives, and efforts to ensure that international education is accessible to all students, regardless of background.
Shaun currently serves as the Senior International Officer within an R1-classified university, where he leads institutional internationalization efforts and oversees study abroad, international student and scholar services, and global partnerships. With a passion for fostering global engagement and inclusive international experiences, he plays a key role in advancing higher education’s commitment to diversity, access, and global citizenship. In addition to his institutional leadership, Shaun has served on a variety of professional developments and advocacy groups, including serving as President of the Massachusetts Council for International Education, a statewide organization dedicated to promoting international education across public and private colleges and universities and as a member of the regional leadership team for NAFSA. In these roles, he collaborates with institutional leaders to advocate for policies and initiatives that expand global learning opportunities and support international student success.
A champion of public higher education and a dedicated advocate for student success, Shaun brings a student-centered approach to his work, fostering inclusive practices and creating opportunities for cross-cultural exchange and global learning. His professional interests include international student and scholar services, global program development, policy advocacy, and expanding equitable access to study abroad, continuity of operations and ensuring teams have clear professional development pathways to create pipelines for the next generation of leadership within international education.
Dr. Kelly McGee
Senior Advisor
Dr. Kelly McGee's leadership philosophy is grounded in the belief that global experiences should be an integral part of every student’s education. She is committed to advancing inclusive, scalable approaches that broaden access to international and experiential learning opportunities while maintaining high-impact, meaningful outcomes.
Kelly serves as Senior Director of University Partnerships at EUSA, where she leads institutional strategy and engagement. Her work with partner institutions supports transformative academic internship experiences abroad that prepare students for employability and career readiness. She brings a cross-sector perspective to her work as Senior Advisor with the Global Nexus Collective, shaped by leadership roles across higher education, government and government-adjacent organizations, the nonprofit sector, immersive language programming, and academic research.
Kelly holds a PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from the University of Pittsburgh and is co-editing the forthcoming STAR Scholars volume, Work-Integrated Learning in Higher Education: Internships, Apprenticeships, Practicums, and Experiential Pathways to Employability, with Dr. Maureen Manning. Her areas of expertise include curriculum development; language immersion and learning; strategic planning and organizational operations; grant writing and advising; professional writing, editing, and creative and specialized composition; and project management, including the design and delivery of comprehensive, substantive programs.
Ryan Fleming
Strategic Advisor
Ryan Fleming's career is rooted in the belief that international education experiences can fundamentally transform lives. This conviction is also the product of lived experience: Ryan lived with a host family and studied in Spain during his undergraduate years and has been working to help others live the dream since.
Ryan has a heart for students as his professional origin story of sorts: he got his start in international education by serving as an international student and scholar advisor at Kent State University. Working directly with students and scholars to help them achieve their academic goals and personal ambitions; coming to understand different global perspectives and attitudes; evangelizing aspects of American culture in return; these things brought him a sense of purpose and joy. Eventually, he grew interested in the "ecosystem of choice" that guides students to pick one university over the other and, after recruiting for Kent State across the Middle East and India, decided to pursue growth in the private sector.
In the ensuing ten years, Ryan held several roles with progressive responsibilities at IDP Education, eventually leading the company's inaugural Client Success function in the US market. He established the first-ever US-based team at AECC Global and ushered in a university client portfolio transformation that inked 25 new partnerships in two years with zero churn. He helped launch the Explore brand in the US, refining its go-to-market strategy to emphasize timely application of student journey data based in Explore's global network of selective international high schools. His efforts drove a similar portfolio transformation, signing partnerships with leading institutions like Johns Hopkins University, Drexel University, and the University of South Florida.
He brings a seasoned perspective to university partnerships, international enrollment strategy, contract negotiation and execution, and leveraging data to create meaningful insights. Ryan is a regular presenter at the NAFSA and AIRC annual conferences, and is a contributing author to NAFSA's Guide to International Student Recruitment, 4th Edition. Ryan values kindness, humor, and authenticity in conduct and communication, based in his experience that fruitful partnerships spring from high-trust relationships as much as from favorable market conditions.
