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A former high-ranking official in President Donald Trump's Interior Department has gone in-house at a private oil and gas company.

Dallas-based Cox Oil announced earlier this week that Vincent DeVito has been named executive vice president and general counsel. At the U.S. Department of the Interior, DeVito served as energy counselor to Secretary Ryan Zinke since April 2017.

Before joining the Interior Department, DeVito was a partner at Bowditch & Dewey in Boston for nine years. Before that, he held various senior leadership and in-house roles at the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as positions at Massachusetts state energy offices, according to his LinkedIn profile.

DeVito, whose appointment became effective Tuesday, could not immediately be reached for comment. He is the company's first-ever GC, a company spokeswoman said.

During his time with the Interior Department, DeVito came under criticism from environmental activists for helping delay federal protections for endangered species, according to news reports. And in a speech last summer, DeVito reportedly described his role at the department as “the office of energy dominance,” a phrase that has become a slogan for the agency's fossil-fuel-first policy agenda.

In a statement announcing DeVito's appointment, Zinke said DeVito “helped set the course for energy dominance in the first term of this administration.”

DeVito joins Cox Oil, founded in 2004, during a period of significant growth. Last June, it acquired Energy XXI Gulf Coast Inc. in a $322 million deal that, at the time, was set to more than double Cox Oil's production in the Gulf of Mexico.

“As we continue to expand our market position within the Gulf of Mexico, it is imperative that Cox Oil have strong legal counsel with a comprehensive knowledge of public policy and experience working with global private and publicly-held companies,” Cox Oil chairman Brad Cox said in the statement. “Mr. DeVito will help guide us through this next phase of growth.”