His accomplishments as an athlete eventually led him to public service. As an accomplished youngster, governor Sila María Calderón decided to appoint Bernier to lead the Puerto Rico Office of Youth Affairs in 2003. Two years later, governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá appointed him as Secretary of Sports of Puerto Rico. But as a different political party took over the government, Bernier opted to leave his incumbency after four years of service. A few months later he was elected president of the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee. In that capacity Bernier led the efforts to organize the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games celebrated in Mayaguez. A few years later and as he was preparing for his re-election for president of the committee, governor Alejandro García Padilla appointed him as Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. In that role, Bernier transformed the Department of State of Puerto Rico by creating the Morales Carrión Diplomatic and Foreign Relations School, by opening several Puerto Rican trade promotion offices in foreign countries, and by reducing the backlog of business charters filings and intellectual property filings. Bernier, however, left his incumbency once again but this time to run for governor of Puerto Rico in the 2016 general election for the Popular Democratic Party.