The Honorable Gustavo A. Gelpi, Jr. has been a FBA member since 1992. He was president of the Puerto Rico Chapter in 2000, then served as vice president for the First Circuit for two terms, from 2002–2006. He next served on the national Board of Directors from 2006–2009. Throughout the years, Judge Gelpi has been a member of several FBA committees and task forces, and served as chair of the FBA Audit Committee during 2008 and 2009. He has also been a frequent article contributor to The Federal Lawyer and has served as lecturer and panelist in numerous FBA events throughout the nation. In his chapter, he was instrumental in establishing FBA student divisions
at all three ABA-accredited law schools in Puerto Rico, which at present are among the most active of all chapters. Judge Gelpi became a Fellow of the Foundation of the FBA in 2002.
He is a graduate of Brandeis University and Suffolk University Law School. He clerked for U.S. District Judge Juan M. Perez-Gimenez and then worked as an assistant federal public defender, as solicitor general of Puerto Rico, and
in private practice, before being appointed a U.S. magistrate judge in 2001. In 2006, he became a U.S. district judge, following confirmation by the U.S. Senate.