In August 2024, Nancy joined SID-US as a Program Associate. After graduating from Vassar College, she worked as a Congressional Liaison for U.S. Senator Alan Cranston and as a corporate paralegal at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Shortly thereafter, she pursued her graduate studies at Cornell University, earning her MPA from the Cornell Institute of Public Affairs and her PHD in Government. During the Covid era, Nancy earned her third and fourth Masters of Arts degrees, namely an MAT-TESOL from the University of Southern California and an M.A. in International Policy and Development (with a specialty in French) from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey where she was a Kathryn Wasserman Davis Conflict Transformation Fellow.
Nancy has over 15 years of experience in higher education as a political science professor, department chair and founding executive director. She has delivered undergraduate and graduate courses in international relations (in French), Francophone Africa, globalization and sustainable development in Asia and Africa at universities all over the world. Within the U.S., she taught at Texas Tech University, Temple University, Colgate, Washington University, Western Illinois University, and the New York Film Academy. For the Junior Statesmen of America program, she taught American Politics at Yale and International Relations at Georgetown. Overseas, Nancy taught at the University of Windsor and the University of Ottawa in Canada, University of New York Belgrade in Serbia, and the University of New York Tirana in Albania.
In 2009, Nancy founded a master’s level program in International Affairs at the University of New Tirana in Albania, creating the blueprint for the first Albanian post-graduate level executive education program with course offerings in English. Outlining best practices for accreditation teams in Albania and the U.S., she developed curriculum, course sequencing and student learning outcomes for 54 master’s level courses. Nancy recruited and managed faculty from all over the world, including Fulbright Faculty Fellows, USAID, UN, EU and NATO officials, Albanian parliament members and deputy ministers. She led and facilitated faculty training and professional development workshops. She promoted the program frequently on national television including an interview with the prime minister in 2011.
Nancy has over a decade of experience implementing organizational change including Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training and development, and global diversity programming at universities and non-profits. As a recipient of the President’s Excellence in Diversity Education award at Western Illinois University, she transferred her advocacy skill set to the non-profit sector. As a DEI thought leader, she created inaugural DEI board positions for non-profit organizations, provided DEI best practices training for ESL teachers, and developed change management training curriculum for non-profit leadership teams. In 2012, the White House Office of Public Engagement invited Nancy to attend the first-ever Korean American briefing about salient issues in the Korean American community. As a member of the Korean and African diasporas, the White House invited her to participate in the White House Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Summit and the White House Historically Black Colleges and Universities Initiative in 2014 and 2015.
As the Senior Strategic Partnerships Director for a higher education start-up, Nancy – on behalf of the C-suite – initiated, developed and nurtured relationships with major stakeholders at colleges and universities (namely, Board of Governors, Board of Trustees, chancellors and presidents) who were invested in purchasing education technology and software for their systems, districts, colleges, and universities. As a result of Nancy’s successful outreach and brokering of strategic partnerships with the start-up’s first five beta clients, the start-up generated over $1 million dollars in sales. Within the international policy and development realm, Nancy envisions leveraging her zeal and acumen for business development to cultivate and nurture strategic global partnerships that place inclusive and sustainable development at the epicenter of policy formulation and implementation processes.
In the fall of 2023, Nancy conducted Diplomacy Lab research on transitional justice in Montenegro on behalf of the State Department. In April 2024, she presented her findings to the State Department at the Diplomacy Lab Fair in Washington, D.C. In the winter and spring of 2024, Nancy worked in UNICEF’s West and Central African Regional Office in Senegal. She has also lived in Albania, Canada, France, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, South Africa, and South Korea. Nancy's professional working languages are English and French. She has intermediate proficiency in Korean and basic proficiency in Albanian and Wolof.
As a tennis player, Nancy has U.S. Open status. As an amateur runner, she ran half-marathons in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, and Kosovo. For leisure, she enjoys working out at the gym and swimming. Nancy enjoys hosting themed potluck dinner parties, playing Rumikub with her mother, and being a doting aunt to her niece.