It is with great joy that Bishop Oscar Cantú announces the new Director of Communications for the Diocese of San José effective August 3, 2020. This position will support the Office of the Bishop, serve as the diocesan spokesperson, and directly oversee the Office of Communications, including The Valley Catholic, media relations, marketing, digital and printed materials, website, and social media accounts.

Cynthia Shaw brings more than 20 years of experience in non-profit communications and marketing. Most recently, she served as the Regional Chief Communications & Marketing Officer at the American Red Cross, a national non-profit organization. During her 16-year tenure at the American Red Cross, she developed and lead all communications and marketing strategies activities across multiple business units for the Red Cross offices in Northern California. She managed the crisis communications team and social media strategy for dozens of national Red Cross disaster response operations. She served as the designated spokesperson representing the Red Cross on local, national, and international media outlets. She developed multilingual content and campaigns for regional and national platforms.

Prior to that, Mrs. Shaw held communications positions at other local non-profit organizations. Mrs. Shaw holds a Bachelor of Commerce Science degree in Marketing and Communications and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Santa Clara University. She graduated Notre Dame High School in San Jose. She is a parishioner at Holy Spirit in San Jose, where she lives with her husband, two sons, and two cats.

In Mrs. Shaw’s own words, “I am energized by the opportunity to use my skills and experiences to collaborate with the chancery, parishes and schools to create and execute a strategic vision for multicultural Church communications,” said Mrs. Shaw.“Across the Diocese, there are so many good people doing amazing things for the love of Jesus Christ. To be able to tell their stories using traditional and digital communications platforms and, in doing so, help draw people closer to Jesus Christ, is a privilege that I look forward to undertaking.”

Bishop Cantú added, “Having worked with Cindy Shaw over the past two years on a contract basis on issues of messaging and communication, I am delighted that she was interested in working full time for the Diocese of San Jose. She is no stranger to the Diocese and will be an invaluable member of our leadership team.”