Lt. Gov. Yvonne Prettner Solon received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Development with a double major in Social Development and Psychology from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 1979 and a Master of Educational Psychology with a focus on Agency Counseling from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 1981.
She served as director of the Marty Mann Halfway House for Women from 1981–1984 and was also a psychologist at the Range Mental Health Center in Virginia, Minnesota, prior to moving to St. Luke’s Hospital and Clinics in Duluth in 1985. Yvonne served St. Luke’s in a variety of roles from 1985–2010 including psychologist, program coordinator, and clinical director for Outpatient Mental Health.
In 1988, Yvonne was elected to the Duluth City Council where she served for twelve years. In 2002, she was elected to the State Senate and in 2011 was elected as the Lt. Governor of the State of Minnesota, where she served until 2015.