Sukesh Sukamaran appointed new Head of Department

^{18 April 2012}

The appointment of Sukesh Sukumaran as the Head of Department of Management and Marketing, shows that Unitec is serious about changing the way it works with students, businesses and the community.

With extensive experience in business development, sales, marketing and consultancy, and a long history of working in the West Auckland community, Sukesh is looking forward to the challenge of working with Unitec’s many stakeholders.

“I’m passionate about adding value to Unitec’s customers. This means working to ensure what we teach and how we teach works for staff, students, industry and the community. It means fostering innovation, and identifying opportunities through collaboration with businesses, industry partners, relevant organisations like Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development (ATEED) and RBA, and the wider community.”

Sukesh wants to ensure that students leave Unitec with skills that are relevant and useful to where they’re going. He believes that by doing research that is relevant to the businesses and communities students will go into, we can enhance the student learning experience.

“By creating an immersive and productive learning environment we better serve students, the business community and Unitec, which is turn leads to long-term relationships between us.”

Sukesh has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Geophysics, Hons) and a Master of Business Administration. Originally employed as an oil and gas geophysicist in his homeland of Malaysia, Sukesh has worked in 12 countries across four continents. He has worked in large businesses including Crown Minerals, Telecom NZ and KPMG Consulting. In New Zealand, Sukesh has also had leadership and management roles in smaller innovation-driven companies such as The Web Company, winner of Waitakere “Best Mid-Sized Business Award” in 2009.

His most recent position was the Business Development Manager West for ATEED, where he lead and participated in several economic development programmes and initiatives for the area. He has also been working in a mentor role over the past five years, providing online/web/social media insight and expertise to help grow businesses in the west.

“We need to think about what businesses will look like over the next 5 years, what challenges they will face and how Unitec can help them meet these. Our staff, our world-class industry based living curricula and our commitment to the businesses and the communities in our region, can help us find solutions to meet these challenges.”