Rapid Acceleration

Vito Paladino (BBA ’99, MBA ’11) is the new president of Audi Canada, after seven years as the luxury automobile company’s senior director of sales. His innate love of cars led him to York University to study business administration at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Paladino grew up surrounded by automobiles in Vaughan, Ont., and became fascinated by them at a young age. His father worked at Ford, but it was the foreign models he saw in the pages of automotive magazines that had him truly enthralled.

“I still remember the Lamborghini Countach photo in my room growing up, something I looked at often, as I loved its bold design,” he says. “It served as a daily reminder to remain focused on my future ambitions. I think of it often, considering Lamborghini belongs to the Audi family.”

What’s it like selling such a big-ticket item in a pandemic?

“Beyond recalibrating our business to a reduced market size because of COVID-19, we’ve had to accelerate our omni-channel approach, using digitization to improve customer convenience, and implementing public health protocols to keep our customers and employees safe.”

It’s a sharp right turn, and Paladino credits York for giving him the skill set to make it: “The York business program is designed to test your ability to multi-task, and encourages strategic thinking while respecting multiple points of view through student working groups. All of this is necessary in today’s business landscape.”  ■