Governor appoints EDB president as new comptroller

Economic Development Bank President Carmen Vega Fournier will succeed Yesmín Valdivieso as comptroller.

By THE STAR STAFF

Gov. Jenniffer González Colón nominated Carmen Vega Fournier, the president of the Economic Development Bank, as the new Comptroller of Puerto Rico on Thursday.

If confirmed by the island Senate and House of Representatives, Vega Fournier will succeed Yesmín Valdivieso, whose term ended in 2020 but stayed on for five more years.

“It is a privilege for me and for the people of Puerto Rico that she has accepted this role …” the governor said

Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz and House Speaker Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez were at the press conference.

Valdivieso was originally appointed as comptroller in 2010 by then-Gov. Luis Fortuño. Following her opposition to the merger of the Puerto Rico Innovation and Technology Service (PRITS) with the Office of Management and Budget, the governor announced she was going to replace her very soon.

Vega Fournier is a notary public, certified public accountant, and certified fraud examiner with an impressive track record in the legal and financial sectors. Her experience spans consulting in the insurance industry, banking, and government oversight, with a specialization in fraud detection, regulatory compliance, and financial project evaluation.

She earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Inter-American University of Puerto Rico and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Río Piedras Campus. At the law firm Vega-Fournier & Rivera-Rosas & Associates, PSC, she has provided guidance to leading financial institutions and insurance companies, including Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, First Bank, the Economic Development Bank of Puerto Rico, and firms such as Universal Insurance and Triple-S. Vega Fournier’s work includes economic loss investigations, corporate audits, internal control reviews, and financial forensics in complex litigation cases. She has testified as an expert witness in high-profile cases, notably in the precedent-setting Blanco v. Portela case before the Puerto Rico Supreme Court.

In 2017, she took on the role of executive director of the Municipal Revenue Collections Center. Her career also includes significant positions in banking and auditing; she served as a senior analyst at Banco BBVA and as a senior audit associate at KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, leading audits for companies such as Citibank, Scotiabank and BBVA.

In addition to her professional pursuits, Vega Fournier has contributed to academia and public service. She was a member of the UPR board of trustees, where she chaired the Audit Committee and oversaw financial initiatives that resulted in the institution achieving a positive balance sheet for the first time in its history. Additionally, she has been a professor at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, teaching courses in accounting and business law.

Valdivieso said she hopes her successor pursues probes such as the recent one in the municipality of Cataño. She said she had received 13 complaints regarding that municipality alone.