DeSantis Appoints Lewis Bear To Triumph Gulf Coast Board Of Directors

March 27, 2019

Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the appointment of Lewis Bear, Jr. the Triumph Gulf Coast board of directors.

“Since Hurricane Michael, communities throughout Northwest Florida have faced immense challenges in their recovery efforts,” said DeSantis. “The Triumph Gulf Coast board of directors is focused on overseeing funds to address the economic recovery of some of the most heavily impacted communities and I’m confident Lewis Bear, Jr. will be a champion for that cause.”

Bear, of Gulf Breeze, is the president and CEO of the Lewis Bear Company, a wholesale distribution business in Pensacola. He received his bachelor’s degree from Troy University and is a member of the University of West Florida board of trustees. He is the chair of the Pensacola-Escambia Promotion and Development Commission, appointed for the remainder of a three-year term.

Triumph Gulf Coast is a nonprofit corporation that allocates funds recovered by the Florida attorney general for economic damages resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Originally created in 2013, Triumph Gulf Coast administers the distribution of the funds to be used for the recovery, diversification and enhancement of eight Northwest Florida counties affected by the oil spill. This year, Triumph Gulf Coast voted to create a Hurricane Michael Disaster Recovery Fund of $15 million to address economic recovery and ad valorem tax losses in Bay, Franklin, Gulf and Wakulla counties.

Comments

4 Responses to “DeSantis Appoints Lewis Bear To Triumph Gulf Coast Board Of Directors”

  1. Matt on March 28th, 2019 10:01 pm

    @db: Obviously you don’t know anything about Mr. Bear. He is an intelligent, generous man who doesn’t abide dishonesty. Just because his family has built a successful business that makes a lot of money doesn’t mean he’s crooked. His family has been operating in Pensacola for over 100 years and have slowly built what they have through hard work. He and his family have donated to and raised money for many local charities. The family is very involved in this community and are owed a little gratitude for what they do. Before you bash someone I suggest you do a little homework first.

  2. k on March 28th, 2019 2:33 pm

    @db: You rush to judgement. You have assumed that anyone who is rich is corrupt. If you had taken a look at the charter for Triumph Gulf Coast, you would see that there is not a way to disburse money to anyone beyond a limited scope – applicants must meet a screening process that the Board has no control over, and the Board subjects any disbursement to an approval vote.

    So your conflict assumption is invalid on its face; and the comment about steering money away from Gold Ring Gulf? That’s borderline libel.

    If the guy is evil, give him a chance – we’ll see it. If the guy is decent, we’ll see it as well.

    Besides, why worry about a guy who is appointed to help others when Century is a lot closer and has bigger problems?

  3. db on March 27th, 2019 7:51 pm

    Not a good move. He will probably steer money to his cronies.
    More useless projects with BP money that should go to communities not private businesses owned by the friends of board directors…
    Already a conflict…the guy sells alcohol to just about every restaurant and gas station around…..what’s to say he won’t steer money to take business from gold ring?
    That’s a legit question, and no I can’t take his word for it.
    funny how it usually goes….

  4. Duke of Wawbeek on March 27th, 2019 8:38 am

    Whiskey Peddler to Economic Developer, Mr Baer is certainly a man of many hats.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News