Dr. Cernera is the president and chairman of the executive committee of the Center for Interreligious Understanding in Tenafly, New Jersey, an international organization that fosters dialogue and mutual understanding among the great religions of the world.
From 2006 to 2012, he served as president and chairman of the board of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, the oldest and largest global association of Catholic universities. He is a co-founder of the Global Virus Network and a member of its executive committee.
Since 1988, he has been a professor of religious studies at Sacred Heart University (SHU), Fairfield, Connecticut. From 1988 to 2010, under his leadership as president of SHU, Dr. Cernera grew the small college from the brink of bankruptcy to the second largest Catholic university in New England. In 2012, with Linda Olson, Psy.D., he co-founded Smart Money Educators, LLC, a community of financial therapy experts and financial professionals that help individuals and couples earn more, save more, and spend smarter.
Dr. Cernera’s current board memberships include The Global Virus Network, Stem for Life Foundation, the Macdella Cooper Foundation, and the Mark and Mary Freitas Foundation. He has written extensively on fostering dialogue and understanding among religions, ending world hunger, and the Church’s purpose in society.
Dr. Cernera earned his Ph.D. degree in systematic theology from Fordham University, Bronx, New York.