Alumnus Appointed to Puerto Rico Financial Board

By Catherine Carrejo

President Barack Obama appointed Arthur Gonzalez, GSB ’69, LAW ’82, to the newly established Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, part of the federal strategy to address the commonwealth’s ongoing debt crisis. According to Fordham Magazine, Gonzalez studied accounting during his undergraduate career at Fordham, then taught public school in New York City for 13 years before returning to the university to earn his law degree.

Gonzalez’s later professional career combined his studies in accounting and law as a bankruptcy judge on the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. For 17 years, Gonzalez worked on some of the country’s highest profile corporate bankruptcy cases, including Enron, WorldCom and Chrysler. He was appointed to the position of chief judge in 2010 and retired from the court in 2012, the same year in which he was awarded the Medal of Achievement from the Fordham Law Alumni Association.

In a 2007 profile in Fordham Magazine, Gonzalez cited his Jesuit education at Fordham as one of the factors that made him want to work for the public good.

“Jesuit education encourages thinking, analysis and generally provides a good foundation for understanding the subject matter while encouraging a commitment to community and service,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez is one of the three democratic members on the bipartisan board, which was appointed by congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle following the passage of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA). Republicans represent four of the board members, and the governor of Puerto Rico will also serve on the board as an ex-officio member. Joining Gonzalez on the panel are democratic appointees Jose Ramon Gonzalez, the chief executive of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, and Ana J. Matosantos, the former director of California’s Department of Finance. Representing the Republican Party are Carlos Garcia, the chief executive of private equity firm BayBoston Managers, Jose Carrion, Andrew Biggs, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and David Skeel, a professor of corporate law at the University of Pennsylvania. Four members of the board have Puerto Rican backgrounds, and almost all have worked in Puerto Rico before.

House Speaker Paul Ryan commented on the diverse backgrounds of the board as a benefit in healing the island’s financial wounds. “Drawing from a wide variety of practical experiences and policy prowess, the members have what it takes to serve Puerto Rico and help get the territory on a path to fiscal health,” Speaker Ryan said in a press release.

Gonzalez and his fellow board members will have a long path to fiscal health for Puerto Rico ahead of them. The island currently holds $72 billion in debt in addition to a $40 billion deficit in its pension fund. Although the congressional solution was not the one the people of Puerto Rico were advocating for President Obama publicly placed his confidence in Gonzalez and his peers.

“The task ahead for Puerto Rico is not an easy one, but I am confident Puerto Rico is up to the challenge of stabilizing the fiscal situation, restoring growth and building a better future for all Puerto Ricans,” said President Obama in a press release last month.