Lcdo. William Rodríguez-Rodríguez
Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Housing
William Rodríguez Rodríguez holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management from the University of Puerto Rico, and a juris doctor from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico.
Mr. Rodríguez Rodríguez is a lawyer and public notary admitted to the jurisdiction of Puerto Rico, with over 14 years of experience in government affairs and civil litigation. As a lawyer, he has worked in both public and the private sector.
He excelled in his work in the Public Policy Division of the Department of Justice, where he litigated complex cases on sensitive issues and multimillion-dollar claims. In 2010, Rodríguez Rodríguez began working as an executive assistant in the Puerto Rico Public Housing Administration and then as an associate administrator.
In January 2017, the Honorable Fernando Gil Enseñat, Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Housing, selected Rodríguez Rodríguez as Deputy Manager of the Public Housing Administration. In May 2019, the Honorable Ricardo Roselló Nevares, governor of Puerto Rico, appointed Rodríguez-Rodríguez as Administrator of the Puerto Rico Public Housing Administration (PRPHA).
As PRPHA Administrator, he has been in charge of the administration of the nation’s second-largest public housing system with an annual budget of over $500 million in federal funds and assets valued at more than $1 billion. He has also developed excellent relationships with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Among his achievements, is the reengineering of processes within the PRPHA along with innovative automation, resulting in efficiency in the disbursement of federal funds and the restructuring of PRPHA’s debt, resulting in the first public bond transaction with an average savings of $60 million.
In December of last year, he was appointed as the Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Housing.
Maretzie Díaz
Disaster Recovery Deputy Secretary
Throughout her distinguished professional career, Ms. Maretzie Díaz Sánchez has been celebrated for her enthusiastic and persevering vision, unique and persuasive instructive style, strategic conceptualization skills, tactical legal planning, and ability to face complex challenges.
In 2003, she graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, School of Law, and began cultivating what has become an extensive career with, a reputation for unique quality performance.
Ms. Díaz Sánchez has provided key strategic counsel in administrative, contractual, real estate, commercial, labor and family law as associate attorney for several reputable local legal firms, while maintaining her legal advisory practice, specialized in Civil Cases with particular emphasis on Administrative Law, Contract Law, Real Estate and Tort cases.
Her natural talent for fostering teamwork and understanding of legal practices led her in 2013 to the Faculty of the University of Puerto Rico, where she offered various courses as an adjunct professor in the Criminal Justice Department and Business School.
Ms. Díaz Sánchez’s key competencies are founded upon organizational leadership and development, contracts formulation and negotiation, regulatory compliance, cross-functional teams training experience. In January 2019, Ms. Díaz Sanchez integrated her experience in the recovery effort led by the Puerto Rico Department of Housing through the CDBG-DR Program, as the “Director of Disaster Recovery”. In mid-2020, Ms. Díaz Sánchez was selected as the “Disaster Recovery Deputy Secretary”, leading the most comprehensive, complex and ambitious disaster recovery program in the Island’s history – or the history of CDBG-DR funding. Ms. Díaz Sanchez maintains a steadfast commitment to leading a team of dedicated professionals at the Department of Housing, focused on the transformation of Puerto Rico through a structured and innovative recovery process and fortifying the island for future generations.
Ms. Díaz Sánchez maintains an active oversight, financial management, procurement, monitoring and audit structure, which guides the effective and efficient use of federal funds for the $20 billion recovery portfolio.
As way of internal controls, Ms. Díaz Sánchez has successfully implemented a digital payment framework which provides access to financial data via passwords, lockouts, and electronic access logs, allowing for prompt and efficient payment of federal funds, making PRDOH a prompt-payer for service providers.
Under her leadership, the Disaster Recovery Office established a procurement process designed to comply with federal regulations on Cost Principles with independent cost estimates and strong practices to ensure free and open competition to receive the best services for Puerto Rico.
