A Florida native and consultant on environmental and land issues has been given the job of executive director for a panel set up to handle ecosystem restoration from the BP oil spill.

John Hankinson Jr. will handle the daily affairs of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, a panel set up by President Barack Obama to oversee restoration of the Gulf Coast in the wake of the BP spill.

He was named to his post by Lisa Jackson, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Jackson will oversee the restoration task force.

Hankinson has worked an EPA regional administrator and spent more than 10 years overseeing the restoration of the St. Johns River system in Florida. Most recently, he worked as an environment and conservation lands consultant.