Former Congressman Matt Gaetz has been appointed to the Triumph Gulf Coast Inc. Board of Directors, the nonprofit that oversees Florida’s share of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement funds.

• Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez announced the appointment in a letter dated Tuesday, June 23. Gaetz’s term runs from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2030.

“It is my pleasure to appoint you to serve as a member of the Triumph Gulf Coast, Inc. Board of Directors,” Perez wrote.

Gaetz shared the letter on X on Tuesday.

“I am returning to public service!” he wrote. “Thank you, Speaker Perez, for this appointment. I look forward to the work ahead as we continue improving the lives of Northwest Floridians.”

The appointment is Gaetz’s first public service role since he resigned from Congress in November 2024, when then President-elect Donald Trump nominated him for U.S. attorney general. Gaetz later withdrew from consideration. Since leaving Washington, he has worked as a talk show host for One America News.

Triumph Gulf Coast is a nonprofit corporation organized to oversee the expenditure of 75 percent of all funds recovered by the Florida attorney general for economic damages to the state from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The corporation administers the distribution of those funds for the recovery, diversification and enhancement of the eight Northwest Florida counties disproportionately affected by the spill: Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Gulf, Franklin and Wakulla.

• Triumph Gulf Coast was originally created in 2013. Its first five board members were appointed by the governor, the attorney general, the chief financial officer, the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House. The board operated in an unofficial capacity until June 2017.

On June 2, 2017, Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation that officially appropriated funds to the nonprofit. The original board then filed official Articles of Incorporation and arranged for the transfer of the first $300 million from the oil spill settlement to investment accounts under Triumph Gulf Coast’s control. On June 30, 2017, the final two board members were appointed from two of the four least populated counties, as required by the legislation.

Matt Gaetz’s father, Sen. Don Gaetz, was an original member of the Triumph Gulf Coast board and served as its chair from 2018 to 2022. The board held its first official meeting on July 13, 2017, electing officers and taking administrative actions to prepare for the corporation’s start-up.