Luis Guillermo Fortuño Burset (born 31 October 1960) is a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, from 2009 to 2013.
Fortuño served as the first secretary of economic development and commerce of Puerto Rico (1994–1997), as the executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (1993–1994), and as the president of the Puerto Rico Hotel Development Corporation during the administration of Pedro Rosselló. In 2004, Fortuño was elected resident commissioner of Puerto Rico, defeating Senator Roberto Prats. As resident commissioner, Fortuño represented Puerto Rico in the United States House of Representatives from 2005 to 2009; during his tenure, he served as Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Conference, as a Member of the newly created United States House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Insular Affairs and as co-chair of the Friends of Spain Caucus.
Fortuño won the 2008 PNP gubernatorial nomination by a wide margin after defeating former governor and then-senator Pedro Rosselló in the primaries. He then won the general election by a comfortable margin, defeating incumbent governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá. Fortuño has served as president of the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico (PNP), the Council of State Governments, and the Southern Governors Association. Fortuño sought to be re-elected as governor in the 2012 elections, but was defeated by Alejandro García Padilla by 0.6%.
Early life and family Fortuño was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the son of Luis Fortuño Moscoso, a dentist, and Shirley Burset. He is the eldest of four brothers. Fortuño is of paternal Spanish descent including Catalan and Galician, his great-great grandfather Jaime José Fortuño y Ferrús was from Tarragona. Fortuño also has Corsican lineage from his maternal great-grandfather.Maria de Mari Medina (Shows parents birthplace and names) - Puerto Rico, Civil Registration
Education Fortuño attended Colegio Marista (Marist School) in Guaynabo, graduating in 1978. He then earned a Bachelor of Science degree in diplomacy from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. In 1985, he received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. During this period, Fortuño was an intern at the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration in Washington, D.C.
While in college, Luis Fortuño co-founded the Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association (PRSSA) with Kenneth McClintock and presided over the organization from 1980 to 1981. During the 1980 gubernatorial election recount, PRSSA generated more than 1,500 absentee ballots at Fortuño's direction for incumbent Governor Carlos Romero Barceló. The generated ballots were an important factor in Romero Barceló's reelection; he won by a slim margin of approximately 3000 votes. Fortuño was also active in other pro-statehood youth organizations and in the Republican Party.
Early career Fortuño entered public service in 1993 at the start of Governor Pedro Rosselló's administration. He was first appointed executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company and president of Puerto Rico's Hotel Development Corporation (HDC). In 1994, he became Puerto Rico's first secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development and Commerce. Fortuño was tasked with the development and implementation of large-scale changes of Puerto Rico's tax, labor, corporate and commercial codes.
Fortuño was named 1996 Man of the Year by Caribbean Business, 1995 Public Servant of the Year by the Marketing Industry and Distribution of Food and Beverage Products Association of Puerto Rico, 1994 Public Servant of the Year by the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce, and 1994 Distinguished Executive by the Sales and Marketing Executives Association of Ponce and the Southern Region of Puerto Rico. He served on numerous boards of directors, including the Ana G. Méndez University System and the Puerto Rico Museum of Art. He is a member of the American Law Institute and the Urban Land Institute. In 1996, he served on the Platform Committee at the Republican National Convention, where he was successful in including the support for self-determination and eventual statehood for Puerto Rico in the party platform. Fortuño resigned his cabinet posts after Rosselló's reelection in 1996 and returned to private law practice.
Fortuño was a partner at the San Juan law firm of Correa, Collazo, Herrero, Jiménez & Fortuño, specializing in corporate finance and real estate law. Prior to joining Correa, Collazo, Herrero, Jiménez & Fortuño, he was a partner at McConnell Valdés LLC.
In 2001, Fortuño was elected as Republican National Committeeman for Puerto Rico, a position which he still holds as of May 2026.
Resident commissioner of Puerto Rico: 2005-2009 2004 campaign Fortuño decided to seek the New Progressive Party's nomination for the post of resident commissioner of Puerto Rico late in the primary season. He won the November 2003 primaries with 61.28% of votes and defeated former senator Miriam Ramirez de Ferrer (4.26% of votes), former Senate President Charlie Rodriguez (6.29% of votes), and former governor and resident commissioner Carlos Romero Barceló (25.78% of votes). After winning the primary, he picked up momentum within the Republican Party ranks in the U.S. when he received the endorsement of Ed Gillespie, head of the Republican National Committee. Fortuño was the running mate of former governor Rosselló, who returned for a third bid as the PNP's candidate for governor.
In the elections of 2004, Fortuño was victorious (48.5% of votes) over his main rival candidate Roberto Prats (48% of votes) of the Popular Democratic Party (PDP). Fortuño's running mate, Pedro Rosselló, lost his bid for the governor's seat to then resident commissioner Aníbal Acevedo Vilá by less than 4,000 votes. This meant that Fortuño would be the resident commissioner under Governor Acevedo Vilá of the PDP. This was the first time in Puerto Rican history that the governor of Puerto Rico and the resident commissioner were not from the same political party. Fortuño became the first resident commissioner to caucus with the GOP since Puerto Rico gained commonwealth status; the three previous PNP resident commissioners had originally aligned themselves with the Democrats.
Tenure
Upon the commencement of the 109th Congress, Fortuño was elected by his colleagues to serve as vice-president of the House Republican freshman class. He served as vice-chair of the Congressional Hispanic Conference during the 109th Congress and as chair during the 110th Congress. Fortuño was co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Spain, part of the Hispanic Conference Caucus. House Resources Committee Ranking Member Don Young appointed him in January 2007 as the Republican minority's ranking member in the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs for the 110th Congress. Fortuño cosponsored the Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2007, which would give Puerto Ricans the option to become a US state or sovereign state. In October, 2007, Fortuño filed legislation, along with Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) to assure the continued operation of the Arecibo Radiotelescope.
Fortuño was re-elected by the Republican Party of Puerto Rico's General Assembly to continue serving as National Committeeman, a position he has held since 2001. He won reelection as National Committeeman in the GOP convention held on 20 May 2007 in Yauco, Puerto Rico.
In 2007, Fortuño joined Representative José Serrano (D-NY) and 128 other co-sponsors in filing HR 900, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act, to establish a self-determination process leading to political status change for Puerto Rico. The bill was amended and approved in a voice vote by the House's Committee on Resources on 23 October, a major victory for Fortuño. However, as other political status bills in the past, the measure never made it to the President for his signature.
Governor of Puerto Rico: 2009-2013 2008 election
A poll taken before Fortuño Burset announced his gubernatorial bid in February 2007 suggests he is the most well-liked public figure in the PNP. The poll, taken by Gaither International at the request of Caribbean Business newspaper, indicated that Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, Fortuño's likely opponent, would fare badly in the general election. Another poll released in May 2007 and taken by Kaagan Research Associates, Inc. at the request of El Nuevo Día, a major circulation newspaper, showed Fortuño with a 46% to 25% advantage over incumbent Governor Acevedo Vilá. On 16 May 2007 poll also showed Fortuño winning a primary election against Pedro Rosselló 49% to 37%.
On 19 February 2007, Fortuño announced his candidacy for Governor of Puerto Rico for the 2008 general election. He faced former 2004 running mate and former governor Pedro Juan Rosselló González in an PNP primary on 9 March 2008 which he won by a 60% to 40% margin.
On 18 May 2007 Fortuño announced that former attorney general Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia would be his running mate and run for Fortuño's current office of resident commissioner of Puerto Rico. Pierluisi Urrutia was a classmate at Colegio Marista, a fellow member of the Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association and also a fellow cabinet member of Fortuño's during former governor Rosselló's first term from 1993 to 1996.
On 9 March 2008, Fortuño easily defeated Rosselló at the PNP primaries and became the new president of the PNP and its official candidate for governor. Fortuño won the candidacy by obtaining nearly 60% of primary votes. Fortuño's running mate and now official candidate for resident commissioner, Pedro Pierluisi, also won his primary.
On 4 November 2008, Fortuño became the ninth governor-elect of Puerto Rico by popular election winning by over 220,000 votes, the largest victory margin in 44 years and giving the New Progressive Party its largest victory in history. Also he became the second governor to get more than a million votes, after Pedro Rosselló's reelection in 1996. Accompanied with his victory, the party gained control of the legislature by historic margins and the majority of mayoralties, and with it the power to name 3 Supreme Court judges that for the first time in history would give PNP appointees a majority on the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. With this win, Fortuño would have the opportunity to name various fixed-term posts, including the comptroller, the ombudsman and the director of the Government Ethics Office.