Appointed as president, CEO and chairman of the Board of GDB on November 13, 2008, by Gov.-elect Fortuño, he had to assume responsibilities long before going on the payroll since they both had to travel to Wall Street, while still in transition, to buy time from the credit-rating agencies to avoid having the island's bonds reclassified into junk-bond status before the new administration had an opportunity to legislate new fiscal policy laws.
Over 22 months, government expenditures were reduced by 20% and Wall Street credit-rating agencies restored the islands' ratings to their highest levels in 35 years and used a newly enacted Public-Private Partnership Act, as well as the 2006 COFINA securitization mechanism to stabilize Puerto Rico's finances.. As head of the Governor's economic team, García coordinated simultaneously the disbursement of over $6.5 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds, lobbying and implementation of the federal health reform program that is injecting hundreds of millions of dollars in new federal dollars in Puerto Rico's health industry, and the rescue of Puerto Rico's banking system, including three Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-assisted transactions that comprised 70% of Puerto Rico's banking market.
Until 2001, he served as president, CEO and Vice Chairman of the Board of Santander Securities Corporation, Puerto Rico's second largest wealth and asset management firm.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, García participation in a dual degree program made it possible to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Economics, majoring in management, from the Wharton School, and a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree in Comparative Literature after completing an honors thesis on Federico García Lorca's "Sonetos del Amor Oscuro", published after the Spanish writer's death.
All Ivy league Academic Honors, University of Pennsylvania UPenn's Men's Varsity Division, Tennis Team Captain and Julius Axelrod Sportsmanship Award