Portrait of Yves Salomon-Fernandez

Yves Salomon-Fernández

President, Urban College of Boston

Dr. Yves Salomon-Fernández is the President of Urban College of Boston (UCB), an affiliate institution of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). Prior to joining UCB, Dr. Salomon-Fernández served as Senior Vice President for Operations Planning at SNHU. Before SNHU, Yves led several community colleges as president in Massachusetts and New Jersey. She periodically serves as adjunct faculty of higher education leadership. 

In addition to leading UCB, Dr. Salomon-Fernández currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Inclusive Economies initiative that creates private-public partnerships to ensure full economic participation in urban and rural communities. She is also a former member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Community Development Advisory Council and a former Corporator of Greenfield Cooperative Bank. Dr. Salomon-Fernández periodically serves as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation and Johns Hopkins University Press. Yves Salomon-Fernández is a current member of the Board of Directors at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). She also serves as a member of the Board of Double Edge Theater, located in rural western Massachusetts. Yves is the former Chair of the American Council of Education’s Learner Success Lab Advisory Council and member of Job for the Future’s Policy Leadership Trust. 

Yves emigrated with her family from Haiti and is a graduate of Boston Latin School. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston and holds a certificate from the University of Oxford. Her master’s degree is from the London School of Economics, and her Ph.D. is from Boston College. In addition to English, Dr. Salomon-Fernández is fluent in Haitian Creole, French, and Spanish. 

Dr. Yves Salomon-Fernández is a nationally-recognized, entrepreneurial, and future-focused thought leader and former community college president who led institutions in suburban and rural settings in Massachusetts and New Jersey. She currently serves as Senior Vice President for Operations Planning at Southern New Hampshire University.

Dr. Salomon-Fernández’s career includes a balance of administration, research, and teaching. She currently serves on the Editorial Board of Wiley’s New Directions for Community Colleges journal and previously served as a researcher and adjunct faculty member at Boston College and Northeastern University. Yves has also taught at the Master’s and doctoral levels at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Salem State University, and Cambridge College. Internationally, she has served as an election observer with the United Nations in Mexico and as a consultant for the Bermuda Ministry of Education.

Yves is committed to service to the academy and her various communities. She is a past Board member of the American Council on Education and currently serves on the Board of the American Association of Colleges and Universities. With a deep commitment to liberal education and the humanities, she serves on the Board of Mass Humanities. In her local community, Dr. Salomon-Fernández serves on the Board of Cooley Dickinson Hospital and as Corporator for Greenfield Cooperative Bank. Yves is also a former member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Community Development Advisory Council. In addition, she previously served as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation and Johns Hopkins University Press and a member of Job for the Future’s Policy Leadership Trust.

Yves Salomon-Fernández received her undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston and holds a certificate from the University of Oxford. Her Master’s degree is from the London School of Economics and her Ph.D. from Boston College. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation. In addition to Haitian Creole, Dr. Salomon-Fernández is fluent in French and Spanish.