Fernando E. Armstrong
Former Philadelphia Regional Director, U.S. Census Bureau
Fernando E. Armstrong served as director of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Philadelphia Regional Office, a position he held since April 1998. The Philadelphia Regional Office was responsible for all data collection, data dissemination, and geographic operations in the District of Columbia and eight states—Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Armstrong, a native of Puerto Rico, began his career in 1978 with the Census Bureau. Over his 40 years with the agency, he has managed the regional operations of surveys and four decennial censuses in the Atlanta, New York, and Philadelphia Regional Offices as well as Puerto Rico. Leading up to the 2020 Census, he continued his work by managing the Philadelphia Regional Census Center.
For his outstanding efforts in employing and developing careers for minorities, Armstrong received the Census Bureau’s Equal Employment Opportunity Award in 1986. In 1987, the Philadelphia Federal Executive Board awarded him the Hispanic Employment Program Achievement Award. In 1992, he was awarded the Census Bureau’s Bronze Medal Award, and in December 2011, he won the Department of Commerce’s distinguished Gold Medal Award for creatively establishing partnerships that fully engaged the American population as partners in the 2010 Census. Once again, in December 2012, he received the Bronze Medal Award as part of the Field Realignment Regional Management Team for creating a more flexible, efficient, and high-performing organization by reducing the number of regional offices.
Armstrong attained a bachelor of arts in political science from Catholic University in Puerto Rico.