Biography

Louis E. Sola was designated Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission by President Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2025.  He was originally nominated to the Commission by President Trump on November 15, 2018, to a term expiring on June 30, 2023. The United States Senate confirmed his nomination on January 2, 2019, and he was sworn into office on January 23, 2019. Chairman Sola was a 2018 candidate for Florida’s 24^th Congressional District in his hometown of Miami, Florida.

Chairman Sola was previously appointed by then-Governor Rick Scott to serve as a Commissioner on the Florida Board of Pilots Commissioners in 2015. As a Commissioner of the Board of Pilots, Chairman Sola was responsible for licensing and regulating harbor pilots and served on the Probable Cause Panel for Marine Accidents.

Between 2005 and 2018, Chairman Sola was a licensed ship and mega yacht broker who served as Chief Executive Officer of Evermarine, and as an executive with prestigious yachting firms Northup and Johnson Yacht and Campers and Nicholsons (including winning the Cannes – Azimut Benetti Sales Award).

Between 1998 and 2004, Chairman Sola served as a consultant with Berkshire Capital and Arden and Price while raising his family in the Panama Canal Zone. During this time, he authored, inter alia, studies for the Inter-American Development Bank regarding the creation of a Central American Index fund through the region’s equity markets. Chairman Sola also developed international finance strategies focusing on the maritime sector in Latin America (including ports, free trade zones and ship repairs) as well as management of greenfield projects.

Chairman Sola served in the U.S. Army between 1986 and 1997 as a strategic debriefer and as a counter intelligence agent. He served the U.S. Army’s Intelligence and Security Command in Munich, Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall by strategically debriefing refugees from Eastern Europe. Subsequently, Chairman Sola served the U.S. Army’s Southern Command as a Spanish linguist involved with counter intelligence activities in Panama during the War on Drugs in the 1990’s. Mr. Sola earned the US Army Parachutist Badge (Airborne) and was awarded the Humanitarian Service Medal for his efforts during the Cuban Refugee Crisis. He has also received the National Defense Service Medal, the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, the Army Commendation Medal and has received the Army Achievement Award three times. He is a two-time graduate of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, Presidio of Monterey, CA (Spanish, German).

Chairman Sola earned his A.A. in history from Parkland College; a B.S. in Management from the Nova Southeastern University and a M.S in international finance from the University of Illinois, and served as an adjunct professor at Florida State University between 1999 and 2001 where he taught classes in small business, finance and entrepreneurship. He is an avid fan of Miami Marlins baseball and has two children, Carolyn and Anthony Sola.