Norma Burgos

The Honorable Norma E. Burgos Andújar
In office 1995 - 1999
16th Secretary of State of Puerto Rico
Preceded by	Baltasar Corrada del Rio
Succeeded by	Angel Morey

Norma E. Burgos is a member of the Senate of Puerto Rico, graduated from the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras, where she obtained both a Bachelor of Arts degree (Cum Laude) with a major in Economy and a Masters degree (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Puerto Rico's School of Public Administration. She continued post-graduate studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and the National Center for Housing Management where she obtained the title Housing Administrator. She is also a Licensed Professional Planner.

Senator Burgos held several positions in the City Government of San Juan, under different Administrations −Carlos Romero Barceló, Hernán Padilla, Baltasar Corrada del Río and Héctor Luis Acevedo (1976–1990). She also served as Executive Director of the Corporation for the Economic Development of Old San Juan (CODEVISA) (1986–1990). Under her leadership she developed several collective transportation projects, strategic economic development plans for the residential and commercial sector; and the "Arts Gallery Nights" initiative, among others. She has also held several positions in the Executive Branch, such as Chairwoman of the Puerto Rico Planning Board (1993) and served as the 16th Secretary of State of Puerto Rico (1995), which is the equivalent of a Lieutenant Governor. These Cabinet level positions were held simultaneously from 1995 to 1998.

As Secretary of State,^[1] in her role of lieutenant governor, Burgos often served as Acting Governor whenever Governor Pedro Rosselló was absent from Puerto Rico. In that capacity,she guided the country during difficult situations, such as the Maricao forest fire, where a new process was implemented to combat tropical forest fires and one of the deadliest disasters to have occurred on the island, the Humberto Vidal gas catastrophe (sometimes also referred to as the Río Piedras Explosion) a gas line explosion that caused dozens of deaths and injuries and millions of dollars in damages. She had to handle multi-faceted problems simultaneously.

The Governor appointed her to Chair the Task Force on the establishment of the Energy Public Policy, the Implementation of Deregulation in Government, and the New Economic Development Model for Puerto Rico (1994). As Secretary of State, Burgos also served on several Special Commissions, such as: the Commission for the Study of a Unicameral Legislature, the Commission for the Study of the Naturopathy Profession, the Accident Prevention and Safety Committee, the Centennial Commission of Puerto Rican Democracy USA-PR, and the Special Commission on the Island of Vieques.

Burgos received an Honoris Causa Doctoral degree in Political Sciences from the Caribbean University (1996), the "Henry Toll Fellowship” awarded by the Council of State Governments (CSG) and the Lola Rodríguez de Tió Arts, Science, and Letters Award from the International Book Fair(2002) in recognition of her defense of human rights and peace.

She was elected to the Senate of Puerto Rico in 2000 and 2004 as Senator-at-Large with the most votes for any candidate of both major parties nominated to the Legislative Assembly. Her name was included in a bronze plaque in the Hall of Illustrious Women. In the 2008 election she was again re-elected to a third term. In politics Burgos evolved from New Progressive Party youth leader, women's rights movements, and participated in the electoral process. She was elected unanimously as Vice President of the party and chaired its Platform Committee in 1996. In addition she served as acting party President of her political collectivity in 2000.

In 2005, she was appointed by then-Senate President Kenneth McClintock as chair of the Senate Committee on Public Welfare and the Joint Commission on Health Rights, as well as member of several other committees. After the 2008 elections, she was appointed by current Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz as Chairwoman of the Senate Commission for Economic Development and Planning and the Joint Commission on Public Private Partnerships. She is also Vice Chairwoman of the Urban and Infrastructure Committee, and member of the Committees on Finance, Trade and Cooperatives, Women Affairs, Banking, Consumer Affairs and Public Corporations. In addition, she has served on the Joint Commission on Fiscal and Management Audit of Public Funds and the Special Committee on Government Reform of the Senate of Puerto Rico.

She publishes a weekly economic information bulletin “Avance Económico desde el Senado”, with articles directed to her constituents, and the private and public sector on economic, social, and planning issues.

In 2008, she served as a member of Puerto Rico's 53-delegate delegation to the Democratic National Convention held in Denver, elected on then-Senator Barack Obama's slate. She subsequently campaigned for Obama's presidential campaign in Orlando, Florida in a historic campaign swing that brought together pro-statehood Democrats such as her, Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi and then-Senate President McClintock, along with pro-Commonwealth Democrats such as Democratic Party state chair Roberto Prats and Senator Eduardo Bhatia.

Norma Burgos, born in Chicago, Illinois is the mother of two sons, Roberto and Norman Benítez, who are federal officials. She has one granddaughter-Stella Sofia and a grandson- Lucca Enzio.

References

1. ^ Steinberg, Shirley R.; Parmar, Priya; Richard, Birgit (2006). Contemporary youth culture: an international encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 494–. ISBN 9780313337291. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZaM04DMwK3gC&pg=PA494. Retrieved 1 May 2011. 

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Name	Burgos, Norma
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