Fleurette S. Fernando is the founding director of the M.A. in Arts Leadership Program and Associate Dean of Academic and Strategic Initiatives in the McGovern College of the Arts, University of Houston. She is a graduate of Toronto's Claude Watson School for the Arts, Montreal's National Theatre School of Canada’s Directing Program, and holds an M.F.A. in directing from York University. Fernando has worked as a director, choreographer, educator and arts administrator in arts organizations across Canada and the U.S., including San Francisco’s Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Richmond’s East Bay Center for the Performing Arts and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. She is a former executive director of Katy Visual and Performing Arts Center, where she also served as performing arts director and development director. She has previously served as the artistic director of Montreal’s Black Theatre Workshop and was the recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts’ first John Hirsch Prize for Young Directors, as well as a Fellowship of the Americas from the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. She served as the director of grants for Houston Arts Alliance and adjunct professor of theatre studies at the University of Houston, Downtown. Fleurette served as a member of the UH Faculty Senate, as Chair of the Senate's Community and Governmental Relations. She has served on the board of MATCH (Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston) and on the board of the Association of Arts Administration Educators. In 2018, Fleurette received the Teaching Excellence Award from UH for her work in community engagement. She currently serves on the board of the Houston Cinema Arts Society.