energy
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J. Larry Nichols gave his father two years. Then he stayed.
A Supreme Court clerk came home to help start Devon Energy. His temporary detour became three decades as CEO, a turn into shale and a lasting stake in Oklahoma City.
Xuan Yong and the value of going back.
He left energy investing to build a company around the people doing the work. A decade, two name changes, and a return to oil and gas later, Xuan Yong is still adjusting the distance between an idea and a useful business.
Paul Rady and the long way back to Gunnison
He hitchhiked west to study geology, then built a career beneath the surface. Decades later, Paul Rady helped bring an engineering school to the Colorado campus where he started.
Alliance Resource Partners is buying its next act
Coal still pays the bills. A $206.2 million royalty deal, a mining technology business, and one troubled mine show how Alliance is trying to make those bills less dependent on coal.
James Ferrell and the business he kept coming back to
He returned to Kansas to help sell his father’s propane business. Six decades, an employee ownership plan and another comeback later, James Ferrell is still part of its story.
Francisco Leon and the education of a border crosser
Before he led California Resources Corporation, Francisco Leon crossed from Tijuana to San Diego for school. Today, he is asking how much of California’s energy future can be built from the assets it already has.
Joe Craft keeps coming back to Kentucky
He built a coal business in Tulsa. His name keeps turning up on Kentucky practice courts, classrooms and a school for teenagers with college coursework on the timetable.
Energen: The art of letting go
Energen sold its gas utility, concentrated on the Permian Basin, and improved its wells. Then came a harder question: who should own them?
Robert Eifler and the business of the next day
He joined Noble as a management trainee, left for a rival, and returned to lead it. After three fleet-changing deals, Robert Eifler faces the less glamorous test of making the combined company work.
John Wasson and the art of staying curious
He joined ICF in 1987 and kept finding reasons to stay. Nearly four decades later, John Wasson’s interests run from government technology to coffee science and California art.
James Grech and the business of buying time
From moving a headquarters closer to the mines to steering Peabody through debt repayment and a difficult Australian ramp-up, James Grech has made a career of working on the clock. Now the coal executive has a succession date of his own.
Phillips 66 bets on the journey.
The familiar gas-station sign conceals a sprawling business in pipes, processing and access. Its next chapter turns on where energy goes - and what it costs to get there.
CVR Energy built a way back.
A $179 million renewable diesel conversion seemed to offer a new use for an old refinery. CVR’s more revealing decision was keeping the option to reverse it.
Apache’s hardest job is pricing the next barrel
From a seven-barrel well to a multibillion-dollar offshore project, Apache’s history turns on a stubborn question: when does a discovery deserve another dollar?
Jacobs makes the future work underground
Before a city can grow or an AI factory can think, somebody has to solve the water, power and engineering. Jacobs has built a business around those inconvenient details.
Jim Breuer and the long way to the top
Before he became Fluor’s CEO, Jim Breuer spent half his career on assignments outside the United States. His next assignment is to turn that accumulated experience into growth that survives contact with a construction site.
Mark Lashier and the distance between an idea and a working plant
A chemistry discovery gave Mark Lashier an early lesson in making things work. Decades later, the Phillips 66 chairman and CEO is applying that habit to a company whose future is being argued over in public.
Uzi Yemin and the businesses nobody wanted
He arrived in America to buy convenience stores. A quarter-century later, Uzi Yemin’s career runs from the refinery gate to the fusion lab - with a useful habit of looking where other buyers have stopped.
Maryann Mannen knows what a number leaves out
An accounting graduate spent decades learning the machinery behind the balance sheet. Now Maryann Mannen leads Marathon Petroleum, where a good number still has to work in the real world.
Dan Letter and the art of taking the middle chair
After two decades inside Prologis, Dan Letter inherited the CEO job through a five-year handover. Now the civil engineer is putting a warehouse company’s land, roofs and power connections to a broader test.
Bryan Sansbury and the art of getting on base
An All-American baseball player became an outsourcing executive, then helped build AEGIS Hedging. From the field to the office, Bryan Sansbury’s story turns on a practical question: what gives the team a better chance?
Fred Thiel and the price of a place to plug in
He started writing software for a London bank while still in school. Decades later, MARA’s chairman and CEO is betting that the next chapter of computing belongs to the people who can supply its power.
The part with four names
HAL, Inc. makes software for the moment a shipment becomes somebody else’s problem. Its big idea: keep the identity of every little thing intact.
Workrise found its edge in the paperwork.
An oilfield marketplace became a $2.9 billion bet on skilled work. Now called RigUp again, Workrise is betting on the unglamorous business of getting energy projects staffed, supplied, and paid.
Cognite makes the factory readable
Before an AI can help run a plant, it needs to know which pump is which. Cognite built a business around that deceptively difficult task.
Hitachi Digital knows which valve to check.
Industrial AI has a homework problem: it needs to understand the machinery. Hitachi Digital brings the factory knowledge, the software teams, and a very large testing ground.
Gecko Robotics goes where the data isn't.
A wall-climbing robot makes a good entrance. Gecko Robotics’ bigger bet is that measuring the physical world can change how we repair it, finance it, and build it again.
Brandon Elliott and the education of a CEO
Before advising chief executives at Consello, Brandon Elliott spent years evaluating companies, explaining them to investors, and running one himself. His career turns on a practical question: what happens when the person asking about the numbers becomes responsible for them?
Kerem Ozmen and the Cost of Making Things Real
From Reno’s startup community to nuclear power, remote computing and electric racing, Kerem Ozmen has built an investing career around a stubborn question: what does it take to get an ambitious machine into the world?
Thomas Lefebvre and the business of keeping things moving
Before Tallvine Partners, Thomas Lefebvre ran a software company and served in the French Navy Commandos. His next chapter runs through airport ramps, working harbors, and the companies that keep commerce moving.