Ashton Hayward appointed to Triumph Gulf Coast by Gov. Rick Scott

Gov. Rick Scott has appointed former Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward to the Triumph Gulf Coast board of directors.

Scott announced the appointment Friday in a press release naming the appointments of 76 people to boards across the state in the final days of his administration.

Governor-elect Ron DeSantis is set to be sworn in on Tuesday.

Triumph Gulf Coast is an nonprofit board created by the Legislature to distribute $1.5 billion from a BP settlement from the 2010 oil spill for economic development grants in the eight Panhandle counties affected by the spill.

After leaving office, Hayward became president of the Andrews Institute Research and Education Foundation.

His appointment to the Triumph board will likely help the city of Pensacola in its effort to expand the ST Engineering aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul campus at the Pensacola International Airport.

Under Hayward's administration, Triumph awarded the city a $56 million grant for the $210 million project with the stipulation that the city must identify all other sources of funding by March.

The city remains about $25 million short of that goal.

Hayward is filling a vacant seat on the board and his term on the board started immediately and ends July 1.