Vice President for Communications and Marketing Santhana Naidu joined Rose-Hulman in 2020 after serving as associate vice president and chief marketing officer at Indiana State University. He also served as the university’s director of web services. In both roles, he helped ISU raise its brand awareness and perception while leveraging the brand to support enrollment and advancement.
Naidu has made national conference presentations on topics such as increasing enrollment yield rates in higher education, global student recruitment efforts, creating a holistic experience through a unified mobile application, and enhancing student recruitment through mobile services. Before joining ISU, he served as director of online marketing and analytics for Williams Randall Marketing in Indianapolis.
He earned a master’s of business administration degree and a bachelor’s of management information systems degree, both from ISU.
Naidu was named a one of the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce's 12 Under 40 young leaders in 2015. He was the 2019-20 Governor of Rotary International's southern Indiana clubs. Naidu has been a member of the Terre Haute Rotary Club since 2004 and has also served on the Terre Haute Human Relations Commission and the Union Hospital Foundation. He is currently the Board Chairman for Wabash Valley Goodwill Industries. He also has held leadership roles with the Indiana Health Fund, United Way of the Wabash Valley, Wabash Valley Art Spaces, and Wabash Valley Community Foundation.