New chief communications officer starts Wednesday

Sherry Main joins UC Santa Cruz Wednesday, April 1, as assistant vice chancellor for communications and marketing. In this role, she will enhance and protect the university's public face and lead the teams responsible for marketing, news and media relations, and social media.

Keith Brant, vice chancellor for university relations, said restoring this assistant vice chancellor position — and by extension recruiting Main — is a crucial step toward creating a strategic communications plan that will share the UC Santa Cruz story with those who matter most.

Main comes from UC Irvine, where she served as director of creative and digital strategies, a role she was selected to pioneer in 2011 as digital platforms and social communications gained prominence. She had a key role in leading the marketing efforts that convinced President Obama to speak at UCI. She also presided over the social, digital, and visual media strategies that helped land the campus at the top of Facebook and Twitter several times over.

Main earned a B.A. from UC Davis and an MBA from UC Irvine. Main and her team were recently awarded gold and silver awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

“I believe Sherry will further our storytelling efforts on all platforms and help raise the profile of UC Santa Cruz to new heights,” Brant said.

Main will be based in Kerr Hall and can be reached at sherrym@ucsc.edu.