As Secretary of Economic Development, he served as Chairman of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, the Roosevelt Roads Redevelopment Authority,[2] and the Puerto Rico Land Administration. He also served 4 years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico.[3] He served as member of the Board of Directors of Somos El Futuro, a New York non-profit serving the Hispanic population.[4]
As part of his responsibilities as Puerto Rico's Chief of Staff, he led the efforts that resulted in the Governor's Economic Development Plan (EDP), announced in the Fall of 2006, which focused on 6 economic development strategies, including infrastructure investments via public private partnerships (PPPs).[5][6]
U.S. federal government
He was the Regional Administrator[7] at the United States Small Business Administration for Region II which includes New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands.
He was appointed to that position by President Barack Obama, and served the Administration from May 2010 until January 2013, when he joined the Hostos faculty.[8] As SBA Regional Administrator, Mr. Silva Puras publicly advocated in favor of small businesses in multiple public forums, such as SAP's SME Summit in New York City,[9] and the New York Senate Unidad Latina conference.
