Graduate Profile

Kasey Lawrence
Bachelor of Management (Tourism)

Kasey commenced her studies with UB immediately after completing her VCE in Ballarat.   She has been employed with Quest Serviced Apartments for 7 years and has held her current position of Franchise Support Manager for 3 years.  Prior to her promotion to Franchise Support Manager she was part of the National Sales Team.

Quest Serviced Apartments is Australia's largest serviced apartment operator with 100 properties located in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.  As a Franchise organisation, Quest provide the support, tools and processes for individual business owners to run successful serviced apartment businesses that are focused on meeting the accommodation requirements of the corporate traveller.

As a Franchise Support Manager, Kasey's role is broken into 2 areas.  One is to provide support and guidance to Franchisees to ensure their business is running efficiently and to coach them to strive for ongoing improvement in their bottom line.  The second area is to ensure that Franchisees are upholding the Quest brand through day to day operations by following procedures and meeting their responsibilities under the Franchisee Agreement.

Kasey thoroughly enjoys working with the Franchisee's and sharing in their success.  Her role is very dynamic, covering all aspects of the business, from operational procedures to sales, advertising and promotions through to financial benchmarking and in Kasey's own words "the learning curve doesn't end".

Kasey is Ballarat "born and bred", hence the choice to study at UB was an easy one.  UB provided her with the curriculum she required without the upheaval and expense of moving to another city.

Highlights of studying at UB included industry interaction, the opportunity to attend conferences and other events that provided "real" experiences relevant to her studies.  The School of Business' relationship with Austravel also enabled Kasey to live and work in New York for 18 months immediately after completing her studies, a time that has impacted her life significantly, both professionally and personally.  Also from a personal perspective, Kasey developed some great relationships that she still maintains today.

In her own words:
"UB has an extensive network of contacts within industry, which ensure that course content is relevant.  The Uni is big enough to be acknowledged and attract quality lecturers, but small enough to develop professional relationships with staff members so you don't become just a number in lectures and tutorial classes."