Gov. Bush appoints chum to education governing board
By Times Staff Writer
Published June 12, 2003
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday named a Jacksonville business executive to the Florida Board of Governors, the panel that oversees higher education in the state.
Peter Rummell, 58, is chairman and chief executive of St. Joe Company, the state's largest private landowner. He is a member of the Florida Council of 100 and the Florida State University Research Foundation board.
Rummell and his company have close ties to the Bush family.
He and his wife gave $20,000 to the Republican National Committee during the 2000 presidential race. The attorney shepherding St. Joe's development plans in Bay County, William Harrison, co-chaired the Bush presidential campaign in the Panhandle. And St. Joe bought a one-third interest in Bush's former real estate company, the Codina Group in Miami.
The 17-member Board of Governors, which oversees 260,000 college students at 11 public universities, was formed after voters passed a constitutional amendment in November.
But the group, filled with business leaders and Bush's friends, has met only twice, delegating many of its powers to the universities' boards of trustees.
Rummell replaces Thomas F. Petway III, who resigned last month to help run President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign in Florida.
