Louis Ernest Sola (born January 8, 1968) is an American businessman and politician, who is currently Commissioner of the

Federal Maritime Commission The United States Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is an independent federal agency based in Washington, D.C. that is responsible for the regulation of oceanborne international transportation of the U.S. It is chaired by Daniel B. Maffei. His ...

. Sola currently works under Chairman Daniel B. Maffei and alongside Commissioners Rebecca F. Dye and

Carl Bentzel Carl Whitney Bentzel is an American attorney and political advisor serving as a commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission. Nominated by President Donald Trump on November 21, 2019, he was sworn in on December 9, 2019. His term is set to e ...

. On November 15, 2018, Sola was nominated to the Federal Maritime Commission by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

and was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on January 2, 2019. He was sworn into office on January 23, 2019, during the government shutdown for a 5-year term expiring June 30, 2023. Sola was distinguished by the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

with the "Esteemed Order of Bearers of the Master Key" and appointed an "''Honorary Lead Pilot".'' In addition, he was bestowed Seatrade Cruise Man of the Year for his work supporting seafarers during the

Covid 19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Sola previously served as a

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

State Commissioner on the Board of Harbor Pilots where he chaired the probable cause panel for maritime incidents.

Early life and education

L. E. Sola was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, IL, and was raised in

Goodland, Indiana Goodland is a town in Grant Township in Newton County, Indiana. The population was 1,043 at the 2010 census. History Goodland was laid out in 1861. The town was named from the quality of its soil. A post office has been in operation at Goodlan ...

, and the Panama Canal Zone. He received an A.A. in History from

Parkland College Parkland College is a public community college in Champaign, Illinois. It is part of the Illinois Community College System serving Community College District 505 which includes parts of Coles, Champaign, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Ford, Iroquo ...

in 1989; a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in Management from the

Nova Southeastern University Nova Southeastern University (NSU or, informally, Nova) is a private nonprofit research university with its main campus in Davie, Florida. The university consists of 14 total colleges, centers, and schools offering over 150 programs of study ...

in 1996; and a M.S. in International Finance from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

in 1998. He is a two-time graduate (in Spanish and German) of the

Defense Language Institute The Defense Language Institute (DLI) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) educational and research institution consisting of two separate entities which provide linguistic and cultural instruction to the Department of Defense, other f ...

, Foreign Language Center, located at the

Presidio of Monterey The Presidio of Monterey (POM), located in Monterey, California, is an active US Army installation with historic ties to the Spanish colonial era. Currently, it is the home of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLI-FLC). ...

, CA.

Early career

Sola served on the Florida Board of Pilots Commissioners where he was responsible for licensing and regulating harbor pilots. He also served on the probable cause panel for maritime incidents. Previously, he was a Sales Executive with Camper & Nicholsons (

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...

, and Azimut

Benetti Benetti is an Italian shipbuilding and boat building company based in Viareggio, Livorno, and Fano, owned by Azimut. Benetti designs and constructs motoryachts, and is one of the leading builders of custom superyachts, having won the ''Showb ...

. He is a licensed International Ship and Yacht Broker who has constructed over 125 new yachts and ships and is the founder of Evermarine, a

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

based

mega yacht A superyacht or megayacht is a large and luxurious pleasure vessel. There are no official or agreed upon definitions for such yachts, but these terms are regularly used to describe professionally crewed motor or sailing yachts, ranging from to ...

brokerage company. Additionally, he served as an Adjunct Professor at Florida State University. Sola also worked as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank during the United States handover of the

Military career

Sola served as a Strategic Debriefer for the

United States Army Intelligence and Security Command The United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) is a direct reporting unit that conducts intelligence, security, and information operations for United States Army commanders, partners in the Intelligence Community, and nationa ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, Germany after the

fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of eve ...

by strategically debriefing refugees from Eastern Europe. Subsequently, he served in Counterintelligence and Counter Narcotics missions in Panama with the

United States Southern Command The United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), located in Doral, Florida in Greater Miami, is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for providing contingency planning, o ...

, commanded by future Drug Czar General

Barry McCaffrey Barry Richard McCaffrey (born November 17, 1942) is a retired United States Army general and current news commentator, professor and business consultant who served in President Bill Clinton's Cabinet as the Director of the Office of National Dru ...

, during the War on Drugs and the fall of Pablo Escobar. Sola earned the US Army Parachutist Badge (Airborne) and was awarded the

Humanitarian Service Medal The Humanitarian Service Medal (HSM) is a military service medal of the United States Armed Forces which was created on January 19, 1977 by President Gerald Ford under . The medal may be awarded to members of the United States military (includ ...

for his efforts during the 1994 Cuban rafter crisis. His accounts of the resilience of the Cuban people where latter recounted in the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

''.

Politics

Sola previously ran for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

seat for as a Republican political candidate against Democratic Representative

Frederica Wilson Frederica Smith Wilson (born Frederica Patricia Smith, November 5, 1942) is an American politician who has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 2011, representing . Located in South Florida, Wilson's congressional dis ...

. Both candidates were removed from the ballot which was cited as a factor that led to the 2018 U.S. Florida Senate election recount. Sola has publicly stated he will not run for Florida's 26th congressional district in 2020.

Federal Maritime Commission

On April 30, 2020, the Federal Maritime Commission appointed Commissioner Sola to lead "Fact Finding 30," a federal fact-finding investigation on the impacts of COVID-19 on the cruise industry. This investigation focused on cruise line performance, ticket refund policy, and the economic impacts of the

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

No Sail Order. Sola recommended an "urgent need for ships to start sailing again" due to the economic impacts on the nation's ports, local governments, and small businesses. On March 25, 2021, Sola published his cruise-forward plan for resumption of cruising focusing upon shore side, crew and passenger vaccinations, while at the same time calling on President Biden to donate vaccines with Caribbean and Central American cruise ports. Due to the Canadian ban on cruise ships through 2022, Sola called for modification of the

Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886 The Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886 (sometimes abbreviated to PVSA, Passenger Services Act, or PSA) is a protectionist piece of United States legislation which came into force in 1886 relating to cabotage. Essentially, it says: As a res ...

that require

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...

s to stop at a foreign port before calling again on a US port, that eventually became the Alaska Tourism Act. Sola also proposed federal consumer protection rule changes to standardize refund practices in the cruise industry in order to protect passengers from cancellations. In an interview with

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...

concerning cruise line mandates for passengers to have Covid-19 vaccinations before boarding, Sola stated, “I feel much safer on a cruise ship than I do flying." Commissioner Sola dedicated his Seatrade Outstanding Achievement Award to

seafarers A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

and crew members, saying 'Without them, we wouldn't be here.'

References