UPA welcomes new Directors of Marketing and Admissions

Western Sydney University, Sydney City Campus

The Director of Marketing and Admissions for Western Sydney University, Sydney City Campus (WSUSCC) and Sydney Institute of Business and Technology (SIBT), Bernadette Mackinnon, is soon to go on maternity leave, welcoming her first child.

In anticipation of this, we welcome her replacement, Suraj Sadasivan from 1 December 2022. Suraj may be a familiar face to some as he was previously the Director of Marketing and Admissions for La Trobe College in Melbourne and La Trobe’s managed campus in Sydney.

Suraj has worked in International Education for over 15 years and is well equipped to support WSUSCC and SIBT and our agent partners in achieving our shared recruitment goals. Bernadette will go on leave from late January 2023. We wish her all the best in this next chapter.

SAIBT

Chris Paleologos will be joining SAIBT and CELUSA as the new Director, Marketing & Admissions. Chris is joining us having previously been the Sales Director at Australian Institute of Business.

Chris was responsible for all student recruitment including acquisition, retention, and support functions. He ensured that all processes, systems, and reporting frameworks were effective and efficient, to deliver an optimal student experience and attain organisational sales and revenue. Chris has a strong leadership and sales track record having worked in various competitive industries such as international education, telecommunications, media, print and digital.

We would also like to thank Rada Lalic, who has done an amazing job in steering the team through 2022 while we have undergone the arduous recruitment process.

Curtin College

This month, Cecilia Sacoto-Patel joined the Curtin College and Navitas family. Cecilia describes herself as a highly motivated and driven marketing professional. She comes from a sound background in stakeholder engagement, international and domestic student recruitment and marketing strategies, as well as customer engagement, business analysis and reporting, gained from over 17 years of demonstrated history of working in the education and service industries.

Cecilia previously worked for Curtin University and ECU as a recruitment manager. There, she forged relationships with education agents, government, and academic organisations for the sourcing of international students from Southeast Asia, Latin America and Europe. She is familiar with many colleagues both at Navitas and at Curtin. She also recently graduated from Curtin University with a Master of Predictive Analytics.