He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico San Germán campus with studies in political science, economics, and religion.
He subsequently completed a master's degree in business administration with a concentration in international trade from New York University.
[2] In the 1990s he was nominated as a tri-partisan consensus candidate to serve as chairman of the Puerto Rico State Elections Commission.
A former member of the pro-status quo Popular Democratic Party, he surprised political observers in 2003 when he announced his conversion as a statehooder and accepted an invitation to serve as the chairman of former Governor Pedro Rosselló's 2004 campaign to return to the Governor's Mansion, La Fortaleza, for a third non-consecutive term.
He served as senior advisor to the gubernatorial campaign of former Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuño, who was Rosselló's successful running mate when the former governor lost in 2004, and was subsequently appointed by Governor Fortuño to head Puerto Rico's Trade Office in the Dominican Republic.