Pushing the Boundaries of your Market Research to Create Institutional Change

About the Presenters

Christopher Romano, Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, Ramapo College of New Jersey

Christopher Romano is the vice president of enrollment management and student affairs at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Christopher leads the division of Enrollment Management, including the offices of Admissions, Student Success (Advising, First-Year Experience & Testing), Career Services, Financial Aid, Marketing and Communications, Athletics, the Educational Opportunity Fund, and Public Safety as well as the Division of Student Affairs. Christopher is also responsible for the development and maintenance of Ramapo’s Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Plan aimed at defining targets for rates of enrollment, persistence, and graduation, but also developing strategies to help the college reach its optimum enrollment levels. Prior to serving as the vice president, Christopher served as the associate vice president of Enrollment Management and as the special assistant to the president of Ramapo College where he was responsible for strategic planning, resource allocation, and institutional effectiveness.

Christopher earned his bachelor’s degree in international relations from Saint Joseph’s University (PA) and a master’s in higher education administration from Harvard University. He has presented nationally on Strategic Enrollment Management as a model to implement change, the Student Engagement Project at Ramapo, marketing/branding in the context of enrollment management, developing an institutional model for Student Success, and utilizing data and modeling to predict student retention.

Beatrice Szalas, Vice President for Client Services, Stamats

Beatrice brings more than 18 years of research, integrated marketing, and institutional brand development experience to the team. Throughout her career, Beatrice has led the development of marketing and recruitment campaigns for colleges and universities across the United States and Canada.

Beatrice’s client work has won dozens of ADDY and Higher Education Marketing Report awards while achieving measurable results for her clients in terms of enrollment, fund-raising, and brand building.

Beatrice received her Bachelor of Arts (Honors) and Master of Arts degrees from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and completed executive development training at York University’s Schulich School of Business in Toronto, Canada.