Chris Veraa Email & Phone Number

Brisbane, Qld, Au

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

The Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre provides undergraduate and postgraduate tertiary entry and application services for 17 major universities and tertiary education institutions in Queensland and northern New South Wales.

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

In this role, I am responsible for campus leadership at CQUniversity Brisbane, contributing to student and product growth, and undertaking business development across the SEQ region. I also have national responsibility for:● Leading the University’s media, communications and external relations activities, with a focus on increasing publicity, enhancing reputation and improving political positioning.● Leading the University’s philanthropic, fundraising and advancement activities, with a multi-million dollar track record of achievement.● Overseeing the activities of the Office of Social Innovation, an external consultancy addressing wicked problems in collaboration with private sector, not-for-profit, community and government stakeholders.● Playing a key leadership and decision-making role in the post-COVID-19 recovery and repositioning of the University.

Brisbane, Australia

As Director, Student Experience, I have implemented significant structural and operational changes to drive sustainable and lasting growth in the critically important area of student experience. Leading a national team of 150 professionals across a diverse range of operations, I deliver value to CQUniversity by driving growth in student admissions, student satisfaction, student success and student retention. Recent achievements include:● A year-on-year increase (3%) in the latest QILT “student support” satisfaction ratings, at a rate (76.1%) that is 4% above the national average● Oversight and delivery of key university initiatives in 2018, including the Student Participation, Retention and Success Strategy (in response to TEQSA and HESP guidance), and the Student CriticalIncident Procedure (in response to the Respect Now Always campaign and increased volume and complexity of incidents involving students)● A significant year-on-year increase (>50%) in Start Uni Now enrolments among high schoolers, following implementation of a “first unit free” initiative to remain competitive with other institutions● A major overhaul of online orientation delivery, through the development and deployment of short video-based modules to replace outdated text-based modules● Improved inbound call handling techniques, including a consistent national approach to training and information sharing, that have reduced abandonment of student and prospect enquiries by 57% year-on-year

Rockhampton, Australia

In this role, leading a multi-disciplinary communications team encompassing media relations, government relations, internal communications, multimedia production, publishing and social media, I obtained a number of key achievements including:● Advocacy for CQUniversity through public speaking, media engagement, stakeholder relations (including three levels of government) and using communication and influencing skills to build strategic partnerships● Developing and overseeing communications strategies for two major organisational restructures, including the ‘mainstreaming’ of four privately held metropolitan campuses, and a university-wide restructure round affecting 100+ staff● Rewriting bid documents to successfully obtain $73.8m in Commonwealth funding for university transformation projects● Driving growth in media coverage for CQUniversity, including high profile placements in The Australian, the Financial Review, The Courier-Mail, Nine’s Today, Ten’s The Project and Totally Wild, ABC’s Four Corners and Seven’s Today Tonight● Overseeing a university art collection comprised of 750+ works with a combined value of $3.18 million

Melbourne, Australia

As Head of Media & Communications, I played a pivotal role in re-shaping public perceptions of the $1.35 billion myki smartcard ticketing project within a complex political and stakeholder environment. myki is arguably one of the largest IT projects undertaken in Australia in recent years, and has been the subject of intense media speculation due to budget and scheduling overruns. In this diverse role, which reported directly to the CEO, my key achievements included:• Managing a multi-disciplinary team of communications professionals to simultaneously manage highly sensitive media issues, while proactively delivering internal & external communications to build customer trust and acceptance of the myki product offering• Successfully influencing the Premier of Victoria to approve the expansion of myki across Melbourne’s public transport network in July 2010, via a Cabinet briefing highlighting the benefits of such a decision• Leveraging the appointment of a new CEO (Feb 2010) as an opportunity to depict a “fresh start” for the troubled myki project, backed up by a radio and TV interview campaign to promote “change” messages• Championing the establishment of an online social media presence for the Authority via Twitter, Facebook and other sites, as a means of encouraging productive two-way dialogue with customers/critics

Melbourne, Australia

In the role of Manager, Transport Communications, I was responsible for developing and implementing an overarching communications strategy, managing daily interactions with the media and the office of the Minister for Public Transport, and implementing effective media campaigns to drive positive media coverage of Melbourne’s train, tram and bus operations.My tenure in this role coincided with a period of intense scrutiny for public transport in Melbourne, with widespread infrastructure issues impacting the Government’s ability to deliver effective transport services. In this role, reporting to the Director of Public Affairs and accountable to the office of the Minister for Public Transport, my key achievements included:• Successfully directing the public announcement of new multi-million-dollar, 15-year contracts for Melbourne’s train and tram franchises (June 2009) – which resulted in the termination of two long-term franchisees – under restrictive probity conditions and within a highly complex commercial environment• Restructuring a homogenous communications team into an issue-specific media and stakeholder relations team – with specialist advisers assigned to train, tram and bus issues respectively – to provide better media servicing and more effective relationship management between the Department, Ministerial offices and public transport franchisees• Orchestrating a series of off-the-record background briefings between key State Politics and Transport journalists, and international rail consultants, to dispel myths about Government inaction and illustrate the real issues impacting Government’s inability to improve rail services in the short term

Melbourne, Australia

In the role of National Media Officer, I was responsible for:• Overseeing and coordinating all media-related activities for the University’s six campuses across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT• Re-profiling the University from a niche education provider to a mainstream university, by strategically building the profiles of University leaders and academic staff as “opinion leaders” and “subject matter experts” in the mainstream media• Promoting the University’s research, achievements and activities to a diverse range of print, broadcast and online media outlets in order to raise its national profile and support student recruitment aims

Brisbane, Australia

In the role of Senior Communication Officer, I was responsible for:• Providing high-level strategic media relations advice to the Minister and senior departmental staff• Responding to media enquiries on behalf of the Minister for Local Government and Planning• Preparing media and communications materials, including media releases, parliamentary statements and speeches, to promote Government initiatives

London, United Kingdom

In the role of Media Relations Executive, I was responsible for: • Delivering high-level strategic media relations advice to the Executive Director and senior agency staff• Establishing and maintaining relationships with key editorial contacts in mainstream and specialist media, to better promote the agency’s products and services• Writing feature articles and opinion pieces on behalf of key agency figures for media placement

London, United Kingdom

Toowoomba, Australia

Gaicd

Certificate, New Ventures Leadership

Executive Master Of Business Administration (Emba)

Leading From Within, Executive Short Course

Bachelor Of Communication

Activities and Societies: Golden Key Honours Society