Karina Ball Canelón

Growth, enrollment and education executive with more than 20 years of multinational leadership, including 13+ years building and scaling marketing, admissions, online education, CRM, partnerships and student-experience capabilities. I have led growth both inside educational institutions and for an OPM serving 17 university partners in 10 countries. Most recently, I owned marketing and admissions across a multi-campus portfolio, reshaped a distributed 36-person organization and delivered double-digit new-student growth for three consecutive years.

I combine an economist's analytical discipline, a marketer's understanding of audience and trust, and an operator's focus on speed, accountability and measurable commercial outcomes.

Chief Marketing Officer & Head of Admissions - Tiber Health / Ponce Health Sciences University - United States, Puerto Rico & British Virgin Islands

(2023-05 - 2026-07)

Owned growth strategy and enrollment performance across a multi-campus health-sciences portfolio, with executive responsibility for brand, demand generation, paid and digital media, web, SEO, admissions, CRM, analytics, events and new-program launches. Led a distributed organization of 36 plus agencies and vendors; reported to the CEO and presented quarterly to the Board.

• Rebuilt the organization, operating model, resource allocation and weekly performance cadence; connected spend and execution to lead quality, conversion, enrollment, CAC, revenue and EBITDA across programs and geographies.
• Directed the 2025 PHSU rebrand and website transformation, strengthening positioning, content architecture, technical SEO, program-page conversion and discoverability across traditional and AI-assisted search.
• Modernized the funnel through the AI-enabled Element451 CRM, automation, segmentation, forecasting and executive dashboards; sponsored practical AI adoption across research, content, workflows and reporting.
• Established portfolio-level brand and growth governance while preserving the differentiated value proposition required by each audience, campus, program and geography.
• Built a new medical-school market proposition and cross-functional launch plan with limited infrastructure, earning family and student trust around a total investment approaching $470K and enrolling a first cohort 56% above forecast at the portfolio's lowest acquisition cost.
• Reversed projected first-year declines of 40% in leads and 5% in enrollment, then delivered double-digit new-student enrollment growth for three consecutive years through sharper positioning, faster testing and stronger marketing-admissions execution.

Vice President of Marketing, Ibero-America - Higher Education Partners - Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Spain & Portugal

(2021-06 - 2022-07)

Owned integrated growth for online university partners across Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Spain and Portugal, coordinating positioning, paid media, creative, websites, budgets, nurturing, conversion and enrollment outcomes.

• Averaged 105% of lead-generation objectives and managed the portfolio through CPL, CPA, conversion, enrollment, revenue and partner-performance indicators.
• Redesigned the regional structure and operating rhythm in the first 90 days; led a multi-country agency selection and launched four new education partners in fewer than four months.
• Balanced global standards and shared technology with country-specific audience insight, brand positioning and market execution - directly relevant to owning U.S. growth within an international parent organization.

Vice Chancellor of Operations & Growth - Politécnico Grancolombiano - Bogotá, Colombia

(2019-10 - 2021-06)

Enterprise leadership across a 50,000+ student university spanning marketing, sales, student services, retention, IT, online operations, continuing education, process excellence and campuses.

• Redesigned leadership, workflows, automation and daily performance management during the pandemic while implementing a new academic system representing more than $5M in investment.
• Expanded share of voice from approximately 3% to 20%, increased leads 77% year over year and finished 10% above adjusted budget.
• Improved service quality and student satisfaction while reducing a 12,000-case backlog to approximately 200 daily cases.

General Director / Regional Director of Operations - Universidad del Istmo & Universidad San Marcos - Panama & Costa Rica

(2019-03 - 2019-09)

General-management responsibility for two universities totaling approximately 10,000 students, including finance, HR, operations, student services, marketing, enrollment and accreditation execution.

• Established a 25%–30% growth trajectory, improved EBITDA, achieved 120% of budget and generated more than $300K in faculty-hour savings in one semester.
• Advanced accreditation, quality, student outcomes and satisfaction while revising expansion strategy to strengthen online-market leadership.

Regional Director, Growth, Product & Implementation - ILUMNO - Higher-Education Agency / OPM - Latin America

(2018-06 - 2019-01)

Led multidisciplinary teams serving 17 education partners in 10 countries and an ecosystem of 300,000+ students. ILUMNO combined marketing, enrollment, technology, online learning, content, product, retention, analytics and operations.

• Created an integrated growth model spanning market insight, audience segmentation, product and pricing, multichannel enrollment, CRM, automation, retention and new-partner implementation.
• Built AI-supported retention segmentation to identify risk and inform personalized interventions - an early application of data and automation to student success.
• Connected partner brands and student needs with funnel performance and operating execution, helping expand the portfolio from approximately six to 14 institutions and prepare the company for a successful exit.

Regional Director, Marketing & Distribution, Online Education - ILUMNO - Higher-Education Agency / OPM - Brazil & Latin America

(2016-09 - 2018-06)

• Built the regional marketing team, channel network, partner operating model, KPIs and execution cadence for multi-country online-program growth.
• Expanded university enrollment and service centers from 437 to 560 in one year; developed partner technology, performance indicators, compensation and quality-control frameworks.
• Created ATLAS, a product-development system that moved opportunities rapidly from market insight and feasibility through positioning, launch, measurement and optimization.

Regional Director, Marketing, Communications & Student Services - Universidad del Istmo & Universidad San Marcos - Panama & Costa Rica

(2013-11 - 2016-01)

• Led marketing, enrollment, communications and student services for two universities; repositioned online education around quality, flexibility, access and student value.
• Delivered 33% undergraduate enrollment growth, 50% incremental students in the first virtual-program period and the region's highest student-satisfaction index; reduced CPL by more than 20% and acquisition cost by 30%.

Brand Manager & Market Research Manager - SABMiller / Cervecería Nacional - Panama

(2007 - 2013)

Led integrated brand strategy, segmentation, innovation, product development, media, distribution, forecasting and financial cases; managed research budgets above $1M, repositioned Balboa to gain five share points and delivered double-digit volume and profit growth.

Market Research Manager, Andean Region / Analyst - Novartis Pharmaceuticals - Andean Region

(2004 - 2007)

Managed regional research, analytics, launches, pricing, ROI and sales-force segmentation; standardized methodologies across three countries and supported portfolio redesign associated with approximately $45M in annual sales growth.

Economist - Economics - Universidad Católica Andrés Bello

Postgraduate - Market Research - Universidad Metropolitana

CMO Digital Leadership - Digital Leadership - UC Berkeley Haas / Google Latin America