Roberto A. Gonzalez is the founder and principal of RA Gonzalez & Associates, a Veteran Service Disabled, minority-owned small business, and Co – Founder of Cornerstone & Associates LLC, a lobbying and marketing consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. Mr. Gonzalez retired in 1995 from the United States Army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel after serving 20+ years in the Medical Services Corp. While in the Army, he served at various levels of management and responsibility, including a position as the Military Assistant and Senior Advisor to two Assistant Secretaries of Defense for Health Affairs. Those posts included the management of the Nations’ second largest integrated health care system. The office is accountable for over $35 billion annually, including the responsibility for providing access, in both peacetime and during war, to more than 8.5 million DOD beneficiaries, with a worldwide network of 128 hospitals, in excess of 800 medical and dental clinics, and a $3.5 billion indemnity health insurance program. He has also been involved in international assistance programs and interagency collaborative projects.

Mr. Gonzalez also served as the liaison to and coordinator with the Office of the Under Secretary of Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, the Services’ Surgeon General’s Offices, Department of Health and Human Services and Medical Directorate at both the U.S. State Department and U.S. Congress.

Since his retirement from the U.S. Army, Mr. Gonzalez has worked with the Government of Puerto Rico, private healthcare sector companies and Academic Health institutions under the Affordable Care Act and the Health Reform initiatives for Health Informatics. He was successful in delivering over $30 million in grant funds from the Office of the National Coordinator at CMS and has worked with the government of Puerto Rico to develop its strategy for conducting a health analysis of the residents of Vieques, Puerto Rico, relating to the health effects on them related to the US Navy’s bombing of the island in the 1970s-1990s.

Recently following Hurricane Maria’s devastation of Puerto Rico in September 2017, Mr. Gonzalez was appointed as Special Advisor to the Secretary of Health in Puerto Rico, and Liaison and Chief Coordinator to the Centers for Disease Control for CRISIS supplemental fund of $41 million, covering some 33 public health projects.

Fluent in Spanish, Mr. Gonzalez has worked and lived in Puerto Rico, Central America, South America and Spain as well as in various cities in the U.S. Mainland.  He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Expert Field Medical, Airborne and Air assault badges, Defense Superior Service Medal, two Defense Meritorious Service Medals, two Army Meritorious Service Medal, Defense & Army Commendation Medals, and the Order of Military Medical Merit. He is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Military Services at the University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. Mr. Gonzalez is a member of several military and veteran associations and actively supports the RNC, RNHA, and NAUS and has participated and support several Hispanic youth initiatives.