Jason Shanks

Chief Executive Officer

Jason Shanks is Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Leadership Institute, an apostolate that provides leadership formation and consulting to more than 300 bishops, 5,000 priests, and over 42,000 deacons, religious, and lay leaders in more than 148 dioceses.

He previously served as President of the National Eucharistic Congress, where he was also a founding board member and treasurer. Jason also served as President of the Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) Institute for Catholic Innovation, where he launched the first-ever Catholic “shark-tank” style competition to ignite entrepreneurship and new apostolic initiatives across the Church.

Prior to OSV, Jason was the Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan, where his leadership earned him a Crain’s Detroit Business 40 Under 40 Award. He has also served as Secretariat Leader for Evangelization and Parish Life for the Diocese of Toledo and was the founder of Catholic Youth Summer Camp.

Jason has a BA in Education from Miami University of Ohio, an MA in Theology from the Pontifical College Josephinum, and an MA in Nonprofit Administration from the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.

Jason and his wife, Melissa, were named 2021 Catholics of the Year by Our Sunday Visitor. Jason was also named as “Catholic of the Year” in 2024 for his contribution to the National Eucharistic Revival and Congress. In 2025 he was honored by Legatus with the Bowie Award for Evangelization.

Jason lives in northern Indiana in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend with Melissa and their five children.