Governor Wanda Vázquez appoints a chief of staff and liaison with the Financial Oversight and Management Board

by Aug 21, 2019Puerto Rico0 comments

Governor Wanda Vázquez (NPP) announced today the appointments of Zoé Laboy as Secretary of the Governorship (or chief of staff), and Elí E. Díaz Atienza as her nonvoting representative with the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico.

“I am proud to have them as part of my team. They are proven professionals who, like me, want the best for Puerto Rico. We will work together to be able to direct the government, both administratively and financially,” said the Governor.

Laboy has held a position as Senator by Accumulation since 2016, chairing the Committee of Social and Economic Revitalization. She has stood out for her defense of vulnerable populations, women and young people. In addition, she was Secretary of Correction and Rehabilitation, as well as Administrator of the Correction Administration.

Prior to this, she worked as legal advisor and interim warden at the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Metropolitan Detention Center in Guaynabo, and at the US Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs in Washington, DC. She also worked as a university professor and entrepreneur. Laboy has a bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences and a Juris Doctor, both from the University of Puerto Rico. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators and of the Southern States Energy Board, and vice president of the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.

“I have dedicated most of my professional career to public service, both locally and federally, always focused on the welfare of citizens. Today I am honored to join the team of Governor Wanda Vázquez and from this position ensure that work plans are executed quickly, but carefully. We have little time, but also the determination to achieve the results that the people of Puerto Rico expect and deserve,” said Laboy.

For his part, Díaz Atienza is the executive president of the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, and directed the Board of Directors of the Puerto Rico Energy Power Authority, a position to which he will resign today. Díaz will remain as a liaison person between the Government and the FOMB, work that does not entail additional economic remuneration.

Díaz Atienza is an engineer and lawyer. He was president of One Stone Ventures, where he was a consultant in engineering and law. Previously, he worked at the McConnell Valdés LLC law firm from 2012 to 2016 and was director of the Puerto Rico Waste Authority of the government of Puerto Rico between 2010 and 2012. He was assistant to the vice president of real estate of the Popular Bank of Puerto Rico from 2005 to 2007. He has a Juris Doctor from the University of Puerto Rico and has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Likewise, Díaz Atienza said he was grateful and assured that “we will work hard to open new channels of communication between the central government and the Financial Oversight and Management Board, for the good of Puerto Rico’s fiscal health.”