Important News

Contact: Susan Skelton
850-387-9503

Destin – Three new board members have been appointed to Triumph Gulf Coast, Inc. The new board members are: Bryan Corr, Sr., of Rosemary Beach, appointed by Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson; David Humphreys, of Panama City, appointed by Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson; and Jay Trumbull, Sr., appointed by Speaker of the Florida House Chris Sprowls. Each new member will serve a four-year term. One additional appointment by Speaker Sprowls is pending.

Bryan Corr, Sr., is the principal of the Corr Group, a real estate development company, and related companies. Prior to his career in real estate development, Mr. Corr served in various roles, culminating in President, of Otelco, a landline telephone company located in Huntsville, Alabama, and later founded a start-up cellular telephone business in Alabama and Georgia. He served as Chair of the Blount County, Alabama E911 Board and oversaw the design and implementation of the first stand-alone E911 system in Alabama. Mr. Corr’s successful cellular telephone company is now a part of AT&T. Mr. Corr was also a founding member and Director of another start-up business to construct communication towers in Latin America.

The Corr Group is responsible for several major developments across the region including the 30Avenue Lifestyle Center, located at the intersection of U.S. 98 and County Road 30A adjacent to Rosemary Beach, and the Grand Panama Office building in Panama City Beach. Both locations are owned and managed by the company.

Mr. Corr is a 1982 graduate of the University of Alabama School of Business. He has served on the Board of Directors of Wireless One Inc., Community Bancshares, and Community Insurance, as well as the Board of Directors of the Rural Cellular Association, McPherson Oil Companies, and Network Management Services. He has served as District Vice President of the University of Alabama Alumni Association and holds a Private Pilot License with instrument, multi-engine, and jet ratings

David Humphreys is the President\Owner of Linea Peninsular Inc. Linea Peninsular was started in 1984 and operates small container vessels trading between the U.S. and Mexico. Linea Peninsular originally operated out of Port Bienville Mississippi. After being devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, operations were moved to Panama City, Florida.

Mr. Humphreys has served on the Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Florida and supports various charities in the area. He completed his BBA degree at the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Jay Trumbull, Sr., is the President/Owner of Culligan Water franchises with seven offices in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. He owns a plumbing company and HVAC company in Panama City.

Mr. Trumbull served several years on the Bay County Planning Commission, the Panama City Housing Authority, the Bay Medical Board Foundation, and the Bay County Chamber of Commerce. He was appointed to the Florida Transportation Commission in 2011 and served as Chairman from 2015 – 2019.

Currently, Mr. Trumbull serves on the Board of Trustmark National Bank as well as several boards within his industry including Culligan Dealers of North America. He is a member of the Culligan Dealer Advisory Council and is currently president of the Southeastern Bottled Water Association.

Triumph Gulf Coast Board Chair David Bear was enthusiastic about the new board appointments. “We are grateful to President Simpson and Speaker Sprowls for their thoughtful appointments of these outstanding community leaders to the Triumph Board. We look forward to having their fresh perspective and thoughts on this process as we continue to recover, enhance, and diversify the eight counties disproportionately affected by the oil spill,” said Bear.

The Triumph Gulf Coast Board of Directors is appointed by the Governor, Chief Financial Officer, Attorney General and presiding officers of the Legislature. The appointees to the Triumph Board are Chair David Bear, Bryan Corr, Sr., Reynolds Henderson, David Humphreys, Collier Merrill and Jay Trumbull, Sr. All meetings of the Board are public.

Contact: Susan Skelton
850-387-9503

Pensacola, FL – Over the last month, Triumph Gulf Coast has honored four departing Board Members as their terms have come to an end and celebrated the inaugural four years of investments made in the eight counties most disproportionately affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. The transformational legacy left by these board members was recognized at meetings in Panama City and Pensacola.

Senator Don Gaetz, of Seaside, served as Chair of Triumph Gulf Coast from 2018 – June 2022. As Senate President (2012-2014), he was a driving force in the creation of the Gulf Coast Economic Corridor Act in 2013 which created Triumph Gulf Coast, Inc. Senator Gaetz has been a Panhandle business owner and civic leader for more than twenty-five years. He co-founded and operated a national health care company prior to serving coastal Northwest Florida in the state senate. He was Chair of the Okaloosa County School Board and Superintendent of Okaloosa County Schools as well as Chair of the Town Council of Seaside, Florida. Senator Gaetz was a member of the 2017 Constitutional Revision Commission of the State of Florida. Chair Gaetz was appointed to the Triumph Gulf Coast Board by the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.

The Honorable Allan Bense, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives (2004-2006), of Panama City, served as the original Chair of Triumph Gulf Coast, Inc. from its inception in 2015 until December 2017. He has held interest in many businesses including road building, mechanical contracting, health care, insurance, general contracting, golf course ownership and management, pavement marking farming and others. He served as Chair of the Board of the James Madison Institute and is past Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Florida State University, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Tax and Budget Reform Commission, the Florida Council on Military Base and Mission Support, the Bay Economic Development Alliance, and past Vice Chair of Enterprise Florida under former Governor Jeb Bush as Chair. He has served as a member of the boards of Gulf Coast Hospital, Gulf Power Company, and the Capital City Bank Group (CCBG: NASDAQ). Speaker Bense was appointed to the Triumph Gulf Coast Board by the President of the Florida Senate.

Mr. Ben Lee, of Lynn Haven, is the Market President for Hancock Whitney Bank overseeing the Bay County region. With almost two decades of experience, Mr. Lee provides an array of strategic banking and financial solutions complemented by a proven passion for helping the region’s businesses and nonprofits to succeed. His experience and record of service has earned him a reputation as one of Panama City’s top bankers. Previously, he served as Executive Director at the Office of State Attorney where he was responsible for the management of seven offices in six Florida counties. He directed governmental and legislative affairs and oversaw the offices’ multi-million dollar budgets. Mr. Lee is actively involved in many organizations in the community including the Bay County Chamber of Commerce, Covenant Hospice, Bay County Contractors’ Association, Haney Technical College Education Foundation, Holy Nativity Episcopal School, and the Bay County Half-Cent Sates Tax Oversight Committee. He is the past Chair of the Bay Economic Development Alliance. Mr. Lee was appointed to the Triumph Gulf Coast Board by the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives to complete the unexpired term of Mr. Robert Bonezzi of Destin.

Mr. Matt Terry, SRA, of Port St. Joe is the owner of Appraisal Group of North Florida which provides real estate appraisals and consulting along the Gulf Coast. He has over fifteen years of experience in the appraisal business. Mr. Terry previously served as Vice Chairman of the Port St. Joe Port Authority, Gulf County Planning Development Review Board, and Gulf County Economic Development Council. Matt also served as lay leader of First United Methodist Church of Port St. Joe and on the Executive Board of Healthy Start of Bay, Franklin, and Gulf Counties. Mr. Terry was appointed by the President of the Florida Senate to complete the unexpired term of Mr. Jason Shoaf of Port St. Joe upon Mr. Shoaf’s election to the Florida House of Representatives.

The transformational legacy created by outgoing Board members has been exceptional. Since its first grant award of $10 million in 2018 to expand the Port of Panama City, Triumph Gulf Coast has awarded more than $350 million to 50 projects in all eight counties disproportionately affected by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

For every $1 awarded by Triumph, $19 in beneficial economic growth is created for Northwest Florida, resulting in more than $800 million in net new family income annually, an extraordinary return on investment.

Almost 30,000 national industry certifications will be earned by K-12, college, university, retiring military and military spouses in the occupational categories most needed today and tomorrow in Northwest Florida’s coastal economy.

More than 16,000 net new jobs will be created, with all incentivized jobs paying 115% or more of the average wage in the area.

Triumph grants have focused on job creation and workforce developments. Projects include funds to close the deal and win a significant expansion of ST Engineering’s MRO campus at Pensacola International Airport, four new, almost fully sold out, industrial parks in Santa Rosa County and a grant to co-locate Pensacola State College’s new CDL training facility at one of the new distribution parks in Milton.

The award-winning Northwest Florida State College (NWFSC) Aviation Center of Excellence in Crestview, and the new, cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence CTE curriculum development and implementation project at the Okaloosa School District are supported by Triumph funds.

In Walton County, Sheriff Mike Adkinson has a vision to “build better people” which includes workforce training to prepare incarcerated persons to re-enter the community. In partnership with Emerald Coast Technical College and NWFSC they are using Triumph grant funds to expand their ability do just that. Triumph has invested in multiple projects in Bay County including property tax reduction support after Hurricane Michael, the City of Panama City’s Industrial Complex supporting Eastern Shipbuilding’s Coast Guard Cutter contract, and FSU-Panama City’s cyber and new technologies workforce training project. Most recently, Triumph Gulf Coast has partnered with FSU-PC to create the new charter school providing Tyndall AFB families with quality, value-added educational opportunities.

In rural Gulf and Franklin Counties, Triumph is funding Career Technical Education (CTE) workforce training programs with the school districts and Gulf Coast State College in welding, unmanned systems, agricultural sciences, and nursing, among others, in addition to providing approximately half the funding needed to dredge the Port at Port St. Joe and infrastructure upgrades at Franklin County’s Apalachicola Airport.

Triumph’s first CTE grant was with Wakulla School Board. The project’s success has resulted in three additional CTE grant projects, two of those in partnership with Lively Technical College, for 3rd-12th graders and adults to gain industry certifications in Digital Tools, HVAC, Unmanned Systems, A&P, IT, AI, Auto Repair and construction trades.

Despite natural disasters and world events the Triumph Board has not slowed down in making investments to meet their goal of increasing household income for residents of Northwest Florida.

While we offer a thankful good-bye to these Board Members, we look to the future with our current and new appointees. Current Triumph Gulf Coast Board Members are: David Bear – Chair; Collier Merrill – Vice Chair; Reynolds Henderson – Treasurer; Jay Trumbull, Sr.

Three additional new members will be appointed by the President of the Florida Senate (2) and the Speaker of the Florida House (1).

Please take notice that on June 28, 2022, at its regular meeting, the Board of Triumph Gulf Coast, Inc., will take up for consideration and intends to approve the following proposal to award funding pursuant to s. 288.8017, Florida Statutes (2017):

Proposal #261:
Applicant: Bay County Board of County Commissioners/Project Arrow
Funding Request: $2,000,000
View Summary of Proposed Grant Award Agreement

Any person interested in being heard on these matters may attend and address the Board prior to a vote on approval of any award. Information regarding the time and place for the June 28, 2022, Board Meeting may be found by clicking here.

Any questions or inquiries regarding this notice or the award may be directed to:
Cori Henderson, Program Administrator at [email protected]

PANAMA CITY — Florida State University Panama City has been approved for a $7.6 million grant to provide partial funding for its highly anticipated Collegiate Laboratory High School.

The award comes from Triumph Gulf Coast Inc., a nonprofit corporation that oversees the expenditure of 75% of all funds recovered by the Florida attorney general for economic damages to the state from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The start-up grant will be funded over a six-year period. The Collegiate Laboratory High School, expected to open as early as fall 2023, will be the eighth lab school in the state and the first of its kind in Bay County.

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