Rev. Dr. Tristan J. Salley ~ President
Reverend Dr. Tristan J. Salley, Sr., is an ordained Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and serves as the Senior Pastor of St. Paul AME Church in Rockville Centre (Lakeview), New York. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Salley served as the 16th pastor of the historic Delaine-Waring African Methodist Episcopal Church in Buffalo, New York.
A native of Hartford, Connecticut, Dr. Salley accepted his call into Christian ministry at an early age at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Bloomfield, Connecticut under the pastoral leadership of the Reverend Dr. Alvan N. Johnson, Jr.
Reverend Salley earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Hartford, a Master of Divinity degree from Payne Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree in Strategic Leadership for African American Congregations from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. Additionally, Dr. Salley has successfully completed additional studies as a Lewis Fellow at Wesley Theological Seminary and Foundations of Christian Leadership Cohort #25 of the Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.
Outside of his pastoral responsibilities, Rev. Salley serves as the president of the AME Ministerial Alliance of New York and Vicinity, representing 51 AME congregations and over 200 ordained clergy of the New York Annual Conference. In the community, Dr. Salley is a member of the Nassau County Police Department’s Commissioners Community Council, a founding member of the Lakeview Civic Association and a life member of the NAACP Lakeview Branch.
Dr. Salley is married to Lady Ina and they are the proud parents of three children, and lives by his favorite scripture, Proverbs 3:5 and 6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.”