José Antonio Rodríguez

Chief Legal Officer

Acacia Network

José Antonio Rodríguez was admitted to practice law in the State of New York in June 1978. In prior years he worked as a Court Officer and then Clerk in Bronx Criminal Court before he went to work briefly at Bronx Legal Services as a staff attorney. He then left and went into private practice from 1979 to 2002 with his first law partner.
In 2002 he established, with his daughter, Alisa Fuentes, Rodríguez & Fuentes, P.C., which grew to be recognized by the New York Law Journal as being one among the largest Minority-Owned Law Firms in New York. Throughout his career he gained valuable experience handling matters involving corporate law, representing both business and non-profit corporations, among other areas of law. In 2017 he joined Acacia Network as a full-time member of its Executive Team.
Mr. Rodríguez received his B.A. Degree from John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York, where he majored in Community Relations and Organization. He graduated Cum Laude in 1974 and was awarded the Leonard E. Reisman Medal for Scholarship and Service, which was, at the time, one of the most prestigious awards given at graduation. He obtained his Juris Doctorate Degree from Seton Hall School of Law in 1978.
In addition to his admission to practice in the State of New York, he is also admitted to practice in all four Federal District Courts. He has argued appeals before the Appellate Division and has appeared in many different trial courts throughout New York State. He also taught several years as an Adjunct Professor at CUNY’s Bronx Community College and John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Mr. Rodríguez has a longstanding history with Acacia Network, representing BASICS, Inc. since 1994. When BASICS, Inc. and Promesa Systems, Inc. merged in 2009, he became the Board Attorney for the newly formed and rebranded Acacia Network organization. In January 2016, Mr. Rodríguez was asked to direct Acacia’s corporate restructuring efforts and left private practice in 2017, to come to work at Acacia as Executive Vice President/Special Counsel.
In July 2018, he became the Chief Legal Officer of the Office of Legal Affairs, where he and his team manage all of the legal work, corporate compliance, and risk management for the entire Network. Mr. Rodríguez lives with his wife, Madalin Figueroa Rodríguez, a retired Yonkers public school teacher. He has two children, Alisa and Daniel, and two grandchildren, Victoria and Brandon.