Connelly Partners Launches Connelly Partners Education

Education marketing veteran Gene Begin leads new practice as Managing Director

Connelly Partners, an independent global agency with 150 employees across Boston, Dublin and Vancouver, has launched Connelly Partners Education (CP Education), a new dedicated education practice as part of the agency’s integrated offering. Gene Begin, former chief marketing executive of Wheaton College (Massachusetts), is at the helm as Managing Director of CP Education, venturing outside higher ed for the first time in 25 years. 

Building from the agency’s work in the vertical over the past two decades, CP Education specializes in working with colleges and universities, educational organizations and nonprofits, and education technology companies. 

The specialty practice is integrated within CP’s full-service offering across Strategy, Creative, Social, Media, Influencer, Digital and Analytics. It allows clients to get the benefits of deep industry knowledge and breadth of marketing experience across multiple target audiences. 

The agency works with clients including Northeastern University, the Center for Collaborative Education, City Year, Year Up, and University of Limerick. 

“It’s widely known that competition to attract prospective students has intensified within higher education, but brands and institutions are no longer just competing for their attention with those in their category,” said Begin. “Colleges and universities need to differentiate from their competitors, but they also need to stand out from other advertisers to grab attention. Our partners are choosing Connelly Partners Education for our experience doing both inside and outside of higher education, and backed by one integrated, full-service agency.”

Gene has a track record of creating innovative solutions and integrated marketing successes within educational organizations. He was most recently the first-ever Vice President for Marketing & Communications at Wheaton College in Massachusetts and was previously at Babson College for 15 years in a variety of marketing roles across the institution. He has appeared onstage as a speaker at conferences including AMA Higher Ed, Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), Confab Higher Ed, eduWeb, FutureM, HighEdWeb, and University Business Tech, among others. Gene was an eduWeb Summit Award winner in 2018, which seeks to recognize leaders and innovators within the field of higher education marketing, and was a senior leader on the AMA’s Higher Education Marketer of the Year Team Honor in 2013.

Gene joining CP closes the loop on a relationship he started with the agency more than a decade ago when his team selected CP in a search for a new agency for his then-employer, Babson College. He joins Michele Hart-Henry, another previous CP client, who leads the Connelly Partners Health (CP Health) practice. 

As CP enters its 25th year in business, it’s positioned as an independent global agency with 150 employees across three locations in Boston, Dublin & Vancouver. Clients get a global perspective, local market expertise, vertical depth and category know-how. And they get it from teams and resources across the network, no matter what “door” they come in.