CHICAGO, IL (September 27, 2006)— Colleen Dolan, Director of Communications and Public Relations for the Archdiocese of Chicago, announced the appointment of Ryan Blackburn and James Accurso as the Director of School Marketing and Communications and Assistant Director of Media Relations, respectively.

Blackburn, who will report to Dolan, will oversee marketing and communications for the Archdiocese’s 258 elementary and high schools in Cook and Lake counties. For the past two years Blackburn served as Marketing and Alumni Director at Holy Trinity High School in Chicago where he was responsible for internal and external marketing, scholarship fundraising and alumni relations.

A native of Joliet, Blackburn attended Joliet Catholic Academy and received his BA in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2001. He and his wife Rachael live in Chicago and Are members of Santa Maria Addolorata parish.

Accurso will be responsible for the Archdiocese’s press and media relations initiatives, and will report to Susan Burritt, Director of Media Relations in the Communications department. He will also serve as a liaison between the Archdioceses’ parishes, agencies and schools and local and national media. For the past two and a half years, he has served as Director of Communications at Holy Family Parish in Inverness where he was responsible for internal and external marketing, communications and public relations.

A Chicago native, Accurso received his MSC from Northwestern University in Evanston in 2003, and a BS in Speech Communications and Public Relations from Southern Illinois University in 1979. He lives in Mt. Prospect with his wife Theresa and their two children, Mary Katherine and James; all are active members of St. Raymond de Penafort parish.