Laureate appoints first chief marketing officer

Anne Da Cunha

Tertiary institutions holding group, Laureate Australia and New Zealand, has appointed its first chief marketing officer.

The group, which includes Torrens University Australia, Think Education’s eight colleges, the Media Design School and the Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School, has recruited Anne Da Cunha as its first CMO, with responsibility for bringing together strategic marketing and advertising across the A/NZ network.

Da Cunha was most recently the general manager of Woolworths owned Cellarmasters, overseeing product development and rebranding the business. She also held an interim product strategy and portfolio development position with Vodafone, and has also worked in the UK for a decade with brands such as The Carphone Warehouse and O2.

“In a very dynamic and accomplished pool of candidates, Anne clearly stood out for her depth of experience, seamless cultural fit and track record as a great leader,” said Laureate CEO, Linda Brown.

In her new role, De Cunha’s first task is to consolidate marketing communications across the various brands. The group has a local presence in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and Adelaide, and a wider network of campuses and online universities in 25 countries which is claims services more than 1 million students.

“I look forward to… highlighting our extensive and exciting offering to students through my strong experience in customer experience, brand development and performance optimised marketing,” she said.

“2017 is already shaping up to be a very exciting year for Laureate in Australia and New Zealand, particularly as we increase activity on a new outdoor, social, print and online campaign, ‘Degrees that Work’, for the Torrens University Australia brand and drive student enrolments.”

The new multi-million dollar campaign officially launches this week and is designed to highlighted Torrens University’s focus on helping students built soft skills and experience to bolster their chances of employment once they graduate. The focus will be on health, hospitality, business, design, education, project management and sports management subjects.

In a statement announcing the new campaign activity, De Cunha said the message is that Torrens University programs are flexible, available part-time and often online to fit around work and personal commitments. The campaign was designed by Sapient Nitro.

“They have been developed in consultation with industry leaders to ensure they impact the skills, knowledge and real-time experiences that are in demand from employers right now,” she said.

At a global level, Laureate filed its IPO in the US on 31 January, stating it had more than 1 million students enrolled worldwide across its 70 institutions as well as 60,000 staff.

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