Dear Members of the USF Community,
I am pleased to announce that this morning, the Board of Trustees of the University of San Francisco voted unanimously to elect Salvador D. Aceves ’83, EdD ’95 as the 29th president of our university.
Incoming President Aceves is currently president of Regis University, the Jesuit institution in Denver. He plans to begin his term here in San Francisco in August.
To say this is a homecoming for Salvador may be an understatement. He was born and raised in San Francisco’s Excelsior neighborhood; he earned an undergraduate and one of his two graduate degrees from USF; and he held senior leadership positions at USF for more than 10 years, in addition to faculty positions in USF’s School of Management and School of Law. His wife, Carol Aceves MA ’11, is an alumna and earned a degree from our School of Education.
Learn more about our incoming president
This is a historic moment for the university: Salvador will be our first lay president and first Latino president. He is deeply committed to USF’s Jesuit Catholic mission, the Ignatian vision of service to the world, and Jesuit higher education as a whole. In addition to his leadership at Regis and his previous administrative, academic, and classroom work at USF, he also spent three years at Fordham University as the academic financial planning and analysis officer in the Office of the Provost.
I would like to offer special recognition for the work of the Presidential Search Committee, co-chaired by Chair Emeritus John F. Nicolai ’71 and Trustee Emeritus Jeff Silk ’87.
I want to express my deepest gratitude to members of the Search Advisory Committee, led by Vice Chair Mary Del Santo and Provost Eileen Fung and comprised of a 17-member team including representatives of the faculty, librarians, staff, students, alumni, and the university’s Jesuit community. The Search Advisory Committee spent countless hours facilitating community listening sessions and shaping the presidential profile — a document that drew a diverse and talented pool of candidates.
Finally, I extend my thanks and appreciation to Rev. John P. Fitzgibbons, S.J., for his service to USF during this presidential transition. On Jan. 1, 2025, Fr. John added to his roles of chancellor and chief mission officer when he was named the university’s interim president at the conclusion of the tenure of Rev. Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J., now president emeritus. We are grateful for Fr. John’s work with our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and benefactors over these past five months, and wish him well as he begins a new assignment from the Society of Jesus this summer.
Incoming President Aceves is as eager to get to know the USF community of today as our USF students, faculty, librarians, and staff are to meet him. We will keep you informed about both his arrival on campus and plans to officially recognize and celebrate his homecoming to USF and San Francisco in the new academic year.
Sincerely,
Jack Boland
USF Class of 1978
Chair, USF Board of Trustees