City of Milpitas

For Charmaine David Angelo, public information is not simply about issuing announcements or keeping residents informed. As Public Information Officer for the City of Milpitas, she sees communication as a way to make government work visible, understandable, and relevant. Her private-sector background in brand building, marketing, and communications shapes that approach.

Her role involves working with City leadership, department heads, and staff to uncover stories behind projects and services, celebrate accomplishments, and translate complex work into information residents can understand. She also sees communications as part of a larger story: Milpitas itself. The city’s advanced manufacturing, industrial, and research sectors contribute to Silicon Valley’s economy, while its food, businesses, parks, shopping, entertainment, and people add character to the community.

Building Trust through Relevance

Angelo’s approach to public trust begins with a simple recognition: residents do not all receive or process information in the same way. Age, language, gender, experience, diversity of thought, and individual habits can influence how people engage with government. For that reason, she favors an audience-centered, multichannel approach.

Social media, newsletters, email, digital signage, print, video, and in-person outreach all have a place. The objective is not merely to distribute information, but to make sure residents understand it and recognize why it matters.

That philosophy also informs her thinking about the City’s brand. Today, the position also demands the instincts of a content creator, storyteller, and brand steward. Angelo believes every interaction, whether a social post, website update, newsletter, flyer, video, or digital sign, should feel connected to the same civic identity.

A Communications Strategy with Purpose

Her work on Milpitas SMART demonstrates how that philosophy can translate into measurable results. The on-demand microtransit service needed an identity residents could quickly understand and remember. Working with the Planning and Neighborhood Services Department and RideCo, Angelo helped build the SMART identity—Simple Mobile Access to Reliable Transit—and carried it across advertising, digital and social media, community outreach, instructional videos, and in-language testimonials.

My role is to make the City’s work visible, understandable, and meaningful to the community we serve and to make sure good work never happens quietly.

The campaign focused on action. Free-ride efforts and outreach at the Senior Center, Farmers Market, Great Mall, and VTA stations encouraged residents to try the service. Ridership increased from 22,771 rides in 2023 to 47,636 in 2024 and 67,116 in 2025, with more than 180,000 rides to date. The work received a 2024 California Association of Public Information Officials EPIC Award and a 2025 American Public Transportation Association AdWheel Award.

Another initiative, tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, gave Milpitas an opportunity to speak to visitors as well as residents. With matches at nearby Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, the City used brochures, transit advertising, social media, video, and community events such as Taste of Milpitas to highlight its businesses, cultures, food, shopping, entertainment, and people. 687455pio_interview_10126687455

Curiosity as a Professional Discipline

For Angelo, the common thread between these efforts is deliberate communication: understand the audience, find the story, make information accessible, and give people a reason to pay attention. She believes public-sector communication succeeds when it helps people understand why information matters, not simply that it exists.

Her advice to fellow Public Information Officers is equally grounded. “My one piece of advice is to stay curious—about the profession, about the people around you, and, most importantly, about the community you serve.” She encourages professionals to seek mentors, listen closely, build relationships, and learn how residents experience local government. Communication, in her view, should never be measured only by whether a message was sent; understanding is the real test.

A Global Perspective, A Civic Focus

Born and raised in the Philippines, Angelo brings a global perspective shaped by communications work with organizations including Ford, Walmart, Coca-Cola, Citibank, Comcast, Godiva, and the U.S. Census Bureau. She holds a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University.

As she continues building Milpitas’ communications function, her work reflects a belief that government communication can be clear, purposeful, and human. Her focus remains on the people receiving the message and whether they understand it. That principle remains at the center.

Charmaine David Angelo has been named one of the Top 10 Public Information Officers for 2026, recognition that reflects an approach built on audience understanding, thoughtful storytelling, and meaningful public engagement.