Rev. Héctor A. Burgos Núñez, Bishop of the Upper New York Conference

The Rev. Héctor A. Burgos Núñez was elected Bishop on Nov. 4, 2022, at the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference of The United Methodist Church held in College Park, Maryland. He is the first Hispanic-Latino bishop in the Northeastern Jurisdiction and the first Puerto Rican bishop in The United Methodist Church.

Bishop Burgos was assigned to serve as the Episcopal leader of the Upper New York Area effective Jan. 1, 2023.

Bishop Héctor A. Burgos Núñez holds a M.Div. from the School of Theology at Drew University in Madison, NJ, a bachelor’s in business administration with a concentration in Management and Strategic Marketing from the University of Puerto Rico, and a graduate certificate in Information Systems Technology. At the time of his election to the episcopacy, Bishop Burgos was serving as District Superintendent of the Central District of the Greater New Jersey Conference.

Bishop Burgos served pastorates at West Creek United Methodist Church 2004-2005; First United Methodist Church, Iglesia Casa de Esperanza 2005-2009; and Oasis United Methodist Church 2009-2014. He also served as Director of Worship and Urban Ministries 2014, Executive Director of NextGen Ministries of GNJ 2016-2018, and Director of Connectional Ministries 2015-2019 for the Greater New Jersey Conference.

Bishop Héctor A. Burgos, a Community Leadership Fellow from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, a certified ICA coach, and an Outward Mindset facilitator, also served as Director of Communications for MARCHA, the National Hispanic/Latino caucus within the United Methodist Church, 2010-2022.
Bishop Burgos envisions the United Methodist Church and the Upper New York Conference being a Holy Spirit-led global movement that is:

• Thriving and united in the mission of transforming the world by nurturing disciples of Jesus Christ who share faith, hope, and justice
• Spiritually alive and culturally relevant
• Committed to personal and social holiness, celebrating its rich diversity as a gift from God
• A multi-generational network of faith communities that embrace all people as beloved children of God and allow them to live to their full God-given potential.
• An organization that is agile, innovative, and creative, and while global in its nature and impact, it is local and contextual in its ministry so that it can reach as many people as possible with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Bishop Burgos’ interests include racial and organizational equity, leadership development, contextual evangelism and worship, and strategic communications in a digital era. He finds joy in cooking for his family and friends and is known for his famous meat marinades and BBQ ribs. Bishop Burgos also enjoys blogging. His blog, Mensajes de Esperanza has more than 150,000 followers throughout Latin America. He shares life with his wife, Jazelis Adorno, and their children, Fabián, Joel, Marcos, and Valeria.