News Release

Christine Jacobs Selected as Superintendent of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park

Superintendent Christine Jacobs

NPS Photo

News Release Date: October 7, 2020

Contact: Justine Hanrahan, 210-612-5725

DENVER — National Park Service Regional Director Mike Reynolds announced the selection of Christine Jacobs as Superintendent of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, which is also part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site preserving Spanish frontier missions in San Antonio, Texas. Jacobs is returning to the National Park Service after serving five years with the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) in Paris, France. She will assume her new role October 25, 2020.“Christine’s prior experience with World Heritage Sites will be a great asset at the park,” said Reynolds. “She has shown exemplary leadership and expertise in partnerships, operations, and resource management.”“I look forward to returning to the National Park Service and working with the San Antonio team to help preserve, protect, and share the stories of this amazing park,” said Jacobs.As ABMC’s director of visitor service operations and federal preservation officer, Jacobs was responsible for all aspects of the agency’s global interpretation program and launched the agency's first interdisciplinary cultural resources program. Jacobs and her team supported ABMC’s memorial sites around the world, helping to "tell the story" of American military service and sacrifice, preserving ABMC's tangible history—it’s architecture and archives and century-old historical artifacts—and cultivating constructive working relationships with U.S. and international partners. Jacobs also served as the attaché to the U.S. Embassy Paris on behalf of ABMC; the Paris Mission is the oldest U.S. diplomatic mission in the world. Prior to joining ABMC in 2015, Jacobs was the director for Indian Affairs and American Culture for the National Park Service regional office where she served as the tribal liaison and managed the cultural anthropology and Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act programs.Jacobs started her career at the National Park Service as an intern in the late 1990s, moving to the region’s cultural resources program in 2000. She worked in cultural resources at Grand Teton National Park from 2002-2004 before joining the Office of Indian Affairs and American Culture in 2004. She also served as the Acting Superintendent at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and Curecanti National Recreation Area in 2014. Jacobs graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and holds a Master of Social Science in Cultural Anthropology and History from the University of Colorado. Her research interests include cultural perspectives on funerary practices, international repatriation, diplomatic relations, cultural heritage management and law, U.S. Indian law, environmental law, leveraging technology to enhance public access and historic preservation, and material culture studies.  Jacobs enjoys hiking, kayaking, basketball, oenology, snowboarding, camping, and traveling. She and her two children are relocating to San Antonio, Texas from Paris, France with their dog Nina. For more information about San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, visit nps.gov/saan.