Jorge Colberg Toro

Early years and studies

Jorge Colberg Toro was born on October 7, 1965 in Río Piedras. His parents are Severo Colberg Ramírez, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Eva Toro Franquiz, a college professor and former Student Dean at the University of Puerto Rico. His older brother, Severo, was also a member of the House of Representatives from 1993 to 2004.

Colberg Toro completed his elementary and high school at the University High School (UHS) of the University of Puerto Rico. He obtained his Bachelor's degree in Political Science Magna Cum Laude (GPA 3.85) from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico at Metro Campus. He also participated in a summer program on Political Science for Public Officials and Advisors at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Currently, Colberg is in the Public Administration Master's Degree Program at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico.

Political career

From 1989 to 1996, Colberg Toro served as Special Advisor, Director of Programming and Press Secretary of then-Mayor of San Juan, Héctor Luis Acevedo. Because of his work, he received the Felisa Rincón de Gautier Award for distinguished public servant in 1995. The next year, he was appointed as Press Secretary for the Popular Democratic Party (PDP). He also worked as adviser in communications from 1997 to 2001.

In 2001, Colberg was appointed Director of the Public Integrity Commission of the Senate of Puerto Rico, and Executive Director of the Joint Commission on the Comptroller's Special Reports. That summer, Colberg also served as Public Affairs Adviser for Governor Sila M. Calderón. In November 2001, Calderón also appointed Colberg as Secretary General of the PDP. She also named him as Secretary of Public Affairs for the Government in 2002.

In January 2003, Colberg was called to fill a vacancy at the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. He was sworn in February 26, 2003. During that term, he presided the Commission of Public Integrity, among others.

In 2003, Colberg Toro officially ran for Representative at the PDP primaries, and was the second candidate with most votes. He was elected in 2004 as a Representative At-large with 134,334 votes. Colberg was reelected again in 2008 and 2012.

In January 9, 2013, Governor Alejandro García Padilla announced that Colberg would serve as Secretary of Public Affairs, thus relinquishing his seat in the House of Representatives. His resignation was effective on January 26, 2013. After two years in office, on July 1, 2015 Governor Garcia-Padilla appointed Colberg, for second time, as Secretary General of the PDP.

Colberg is the only person who occupied both position: Secretary General of the Popular Democratic Party and Public Affairs Secretary of the Governor of Puerto Rico, under two different administrations with governors: Sila M. Calderon and Alejandro Garcia Padilla.

Since January 2017, Colberg is in private sector as a political, legislative and government affairs consultant. He also is a speechwriter, communication consultant and strategist. He host a radio program with NotiUno Radio Group as a political and government analyst. Colberg wrote two books, the first one, "Agenda de Cambios" (Agenda for Change) about political history of the PDP and "Pacto de Futuro" (Compact for the Future) about the future of the Commonwealth as the best political option for the people of Puerto Rico. Colberg also is a featured columnist for El Nuevo Dia newspaper, the main publishing media in Puerto Rico.

Personal life

Colberg and wife Ivonne Vilanova have two sons: Jorge Ernesto (22) a Law School student and Daniel Felipe (20) a college student at University of Puerto Rico.