Ricky Rosselló

Ricky Rosselló
12th Governor of Puerto Rico
Incumbent
Assumed office January 2, 2017
Preceded by	Alejandro García Padilla
Personal details
Born	Ricardo Antonio Rosselló Nevares (1979-03-07) March 7, 1979 San Juan, Puerto Rico, U.S.
Political party	New Progressive
Other political affiliations	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Beatriz Areizaga
Children	1
Parents	Maga Nevares (mother) Pedro Rosselló (father)
Residence	La Fortaleza
Education	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS) University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (MS, PhD)
Website	Government website

Ricardo Antonio "Ricky" Rosselló Nevares (born March 7, 1979) is a Puerto Rican politician and the 12th and current Governor of Puerto Rico. He is also the President of the New Progressive Party which advocates for Puerto Rico to become a state of the United States. He is also a college professor and researcher.

Rosselló came to public life after his father, Pedro Rosselló, was elected as governor of Puerto Rico in 1992 and 1996. At the time, Ricardo was mostly known for his academic and athletic accomplishments, having represented Puerto Rico internationally in the International Mathematical Olympiads and by becoming a three-time junior tennis champion on the island.

Initially, however, Rosselló dedicated himself to the sciences. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering and economics and, later on, graduated from the University of Michigan with a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering. After obtaining his doctoral degree, Rosselló worked as a researcher at Duke University, focusing his work on stem cell research. He then published and presented his research on several venues while obtaining several awards in the process.

But after a few years in academia, Rosselló returned to the public life. In 2010, he founded the political advocacy group Boricua ¡Ahora Es! that advocated for changing the current political status of Puerto Rico. After several years of political advocacy, Rosselló announced that he would seek the nomination for governor of Puerto Rico under the New Progressive Party (PNP in Spanish). Several months later he was elected governor during the 2016 general election.

Rosselló's political stances tend to be centrist on social issues. For instance, he supports legalization of medical marijuana but opposes legalization of marijuana for recreational use. Rosselló supports equal rights for LGBT but advocates for the institution of marriage to be between a man and a woman only.

Early life and education

File:RicardoTennis.jpg

Rosselló playing tennis for MIT in the NCAA Division III as part of a doubles team.

Rosselló was born 1979 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the son of Pedro Rosselló, a doctor, and Maga Nevares, and is the youngest of three brothers including Juan Oscar (b. 1971) and Luis Roberto (b. 1973). He attended Colegio Marista de Guaynabo. Rosselló's paternal great-grandfather Pedro Juan Rosselló Batle immigrated in 1902 at the age of 23 from Lloseta, Mallorca, in the Balearic Islands, Spain; his brother Juan had also arrived a year earlier. During his high school years he was an athlete and a three-time junior tennis champion in Puerto Rico. He was selected to compete in the International Mathematical Olympiads.

He earned a bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in biomedical engineering and economics, and a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) in biomedical engineering from the University of Michigan. As a college student he served as president of the Association of Puerto Rican Students at MIT and was the winner of the Dean’s Office award for outstanding leadership and community service. Additionally, he was the recipient of the office of minority “academic excellence” award and was the youngest deputy leader in the International Mathematical Olympiads in 2000.

As a researcher in college, Rosselló focused on adult stem cell research.

After graduation, Rosselló worked as a researcher at Duke University. His work in the stem cell research area has been subject of several awards, such as the Biomaterials Conference STAR Award and has been recognized as a Scholar by the International Society of Neurobiology. His works have been published in several academic journals, including the Communicative & Integrative Biology Journal and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He is a co-founder of Beijing Prosperous Biopharm, a medical company established in Beijing, China, that has developed various designer drugs aimed at cancer, prostate cancer, neurodegeneration problems, diabetes and HIV. He has presented his research in various international conferences, including the Society for Biomedical Engineering, Orthopedic Research Society, and the Society for Biomaterials, where he was awarded two STAR research awards for outstanding research. His findings suggest a potential strategy to improve cell-cell communication in 3D, implying that both targeted delivery and cell-based strategies can be used as treatments to enhance communication in 3D living tissue, which can have a significant impact in tissue engineering and cancer therapy.

Political career

Rosselló became involved in politics during the 2008 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election, when his father Pedro Rosselló lost a party primary against the eventual Governor Luis Fortuño. As a Democrat, Rosselló was a Hillary Clinton delegate to the 2008 nominating convention and an Obama delegate to the 2012 convention. In 2008, he had a key role in Clinton's get-out-the-vote efforts for the June 1 Puerto Rico presidential primary, appearing in her final TV ad with several democratic and Puerto Rican political leaders.

Following this event, Rosselló became a political commentator, writing columns for El Vocero, a daily newspaper published in San Juan, covering politics, science, healthcare and economics topics. Additionally, Rosselló appeared as a regular guest analyst in several political radio talk shows.

Ricardo also published a book that depicted the accomplishments of his father’s administration (1993–2000). All copies of the limited edition print were exhausted in one day. To diffuse the message, he allowed the material to be public domain, and published it on the La Obra de Rosselló website for everyone to read.

In 2012, Rosselló founded Boricua ¡Ahora Es!, a political advocacy group that advocates changing Puerto Rico's current political status. The movement featured a grass-roots educational campaign, suggesting that involvement of the international community may be necessary for the United States government to take action. Boricua ¡Ahora Es! actively campaigned during the 2012 Puerto Rico status referendum.

Gubernatorial campaign

See also: Puerto Rico gubernatorial election, 2016

Since 2012, Rosselló was mentioned as a potential gubernatorial candidate for the 2016 election cycle. During 2013, Rosselló began organizing a group of collaborators to build what he called Plan para Puerto Rico (Plan for Puerto Rico). This plan would serve as a blueprint to deal with the economic and political problems and Puerto Rico and by being built years before a candidacy, it would represent a more complete and realistic political agenda.

During 2014, Rosselló utilized his political platform to perform several protest events against the policies of incumbent Governor of Puerto Rico Alejandro Garcia Padilla. Some of these events included a march against a proposed Value Added Tax.

On September 19, 2015, he confirmed his intention to run for Governor of Puerto Rico in the 2016 election, and held a campaign rally the next day at Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan that surpassed the previous attendance record held by Ricky Martin. At the rally, he endorsed Jenniffer González, a Republican, for Resident Commissioner.

On June 5, 2016, Rosselló won the New Progressive Party primary against incumbent Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, thus becoming the party's candidate for governor and heading to the general election against PPD candidate David Bernier. Rosselló made Puerto Rican statehood the central issue of his campaign, and he views statehood as the key to economic recovery.

On November 8, 2016, Rosselló defeated five other gubernatorial candidates and was elected Governor of Puerto Rico, receiving 41% of he vote. He was sworn in on January 2, 2017.

Governorship

First days

See also: 17th Cabinet of Puerto Rico

Rosselló announced the designation of several of his members for the 17th Cabinet of Puerto Rico. Amongst these, he selected William Villafañe to be his Chief of Staff and Michelle Hernandez to be the Superintendent of the Puerto Rico Police.

Domestic policies

On his first day as governor, Ricardo Rosselló signed six executive orders. His first executive order was the OE-2017-001, decreeing a state of fiscal emergency. The second order was the OE-2017-002, which creates the COF with the intent of obtaining, maximizing and overseeing more federal funds. The third executive order, OE-2017-003, looks to streamline the permit obtaining process for development of projects that promote a new or improved infrastructure for the lending of services for the citizens and for economic development within Puerto Rico. The fourth executive order, OE-2017-004, creates an interagency group of projects critical for the infrastructure, a collateral effect of the OE 2017-003. The fifth executive order, OE-2017-005, orders the implementation of the method of zero base budget for the preparation of the budget for the fiscal year 2017-2018. The last executive order Rosselló signed on his first day was the OE-2017-006, it decrees a public policy within the Government of Puerto Rico that guarantees equal pay for equal job for women employees.

Personal life

Rosselló married Beatriz Isabel in 2012. They have a daughter together, Claudia, born on August 21, 2014. He has two brothers. He has gone to South America to work alongside other stem cell doctors in developing better stem cell treatment.

Controversy

Ricardo Roselló claimed to have developed various drugs, but later made clear they are still in the research phase of development. He was accused by Bolivian author Lupe Andrade of plagiarizing her column titled “Respondabilidad y democracia” (Accountability and Democracy). He denied her claims and no legal action followed.

References

Party political offices
Preceded by Luis Fortuño	New Progressive nominee for Governor of Puerto Rico 2016	Most recent
Political offices
Preceded by Alejandro García Padilla	Governor of Puerto Rico 2017–present	Incumbent