Deacon Bernie Nojadera has served as the Executive Director of the Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection at the USCCB since 2011. Formerly, he served as Director of the Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults with the Diocese of San Jose, California, from 2002-2011.

Bernie holds a Bachelor of Arts from St. Joseph College, Mountain View, California, a Masters of Social Work specializing in health and mental health services from San Jose State University, and a Masters of Arts in Theology from St. Patrick’s Seminary and University, Menlo Park, California.

He has been a member of the San Jose Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the County of Santa Clara Interfaith Clergy Task Force on the Prevention of Elder Abuse, and the County of Santa Clara Task Force on Suicide Prevention. He enjoys offering national/international workshops/training on safe environment/victim accompaniment, safeguarding, HRO (high reliability organization) principles, and topics on leadership and communication.

He is married and has two adult children.