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On Monday, Governor-elect Jenniffer González Colón announced the members of her Transition Committee, selecting representatives from various political perspectives.
The committee will be led by Bayamón Mayor Ramón Luis Rivera Cruz, who also chaired the transition committee for outgoing Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia four years prior.
“My actions as governor-elect and upon taking the oath on January 2 are committed to making my administration a government for all Puerto Ricans,” González Colón remarked. “The era of partisan politics is behind us. My Incoming Transition Committee members encompass diverse political ideologies and possess experience across public and private sectors, academia, law, finance, management, and more, who will meticulously evaluate Puerto Rico’s government situation and deliver a comprehensive assessment. This approach enables us to responsibly initiate the implementation of our government program, AcciónPR, which the public endorsed during the elections on November 5.”
She expressed gratitude to each selected member for accepting the responsibility of executing their duties with utmost professionalism and accountability.
The Incoming Transition Committee, chaired by Rivera Cruz, a former senator, includes Oriol Campos, who served as finance director for González Colón’s campaign. Campos is a member of the New Progressive Party (NPP) Platform Committee and has expertise as a lawyer, accountant, former House of Representatives administrator, and advisor on public, legal, administrative, and financial matters.
Additionally, González Colón selected Marcos Rodríguez Ema, former chief of staff at La Fortaleza under then-governor Luis Fortuño; an advisor on finance, corporate governance, and banking policies; and ex-president of the now-inactive Government Development Bank.
Other appointed members comprise:
1. Zayira Jordán Conde, a member of the NPP Platform Committee and president of Atlantic University, has served as a professor and researcher in the engineering and computing faculties and was a candidate for resident commissioner in 2020 under the Citizen Victory Movement.
2. Jorge Colberg Toro, a former at-large representative for the Popular Democratic Party (PDP), previously held roles as secretary of public affairs and spokesperson for La Fortaleza, as well as serving as secretary general of the PDP. He is also a university professor and political analyst.
3. Veronica Ferraiuoli Hornedo, director of the Luis A. Ferré Public Policy Institute and responsible for developing the González Colón #AcciónPR government program, is a litigator at both state and federal levels, former president of the Federal Bar Association Puerto Rico Chapter, and ex-deputy director of the Resident Commissioner’s Office.
4. Juan Zaragoza Gómez, currently an at-large senator for the PDP, chairs the Senate Finance, Federal Affairs and Fiscal Control Board Committee, and has served as the island’s Treasury secretary.
5. César A. Alvarado Torres is the associate dean of academic affairs at Interamerican University School of Law, where he supervises the Continuing Legal Education program, and has acted as a public policy advisor and the last executive director of the Permanent Joint Commission for the Review and Reform of the Civil Code (1998-2009).
6. Tere Riera Carrión, recipient of the Truman Democracy 2023 scholarship, serves on the boards of various cultural organizations, works as a public financing analyst, and is an advisor to the Office of Management and Budget.
7. Janet Parra, part of the NPP Platform Committee, is a private practice attorney, former prosecutor, and past head of the Organized Crime Division at the Department of Justice.
The incoming transition committee is set to conduct its internal meetings this week and will later announce when the transition hearings, in collaboration with Pierluisi’s appointed transition committee, will commence.
Following the announcement of the transition committee, PDP President Jesús Manuel Ortíz González, who ranked third in last week’s gubernatorial election, recognized that the PDP primaries did not conclude positively for him and Zaragoza Gómez, his opponent in those primaries.
“I now comprehend the ‘irreconcilable gaps,’” Ortíz González posted on his X account.
Subsequent to the June primary, there was a lack of communication between Ortíz González and Zaragoza Gómez, despite Zaragoza Gómez previously noting the existence of “irreconcilable gaps” between them.
