Rodney Lewis (born 1954) is founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Lewis Energy, an oil and natural gas drilling company.[1][2]
Rodney Lewis was born in 1954 and grew up on a ranch in Laredo, Texas.[3][4] He graduated from Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas with a Bachelor of Arts in criminal justice.[1][2]
He started his career in the oil industry by working for Stampede Energy and for the R.L. Burns Corporation.[2] He bought his first oil well for $13,000 in 1982, and started Lewis Energy in 1983.[1][2] In 1995, he received $5 million from Enron Capital & Trade, and paid it back in eight months.[4] Alongside drilling in South Texas, he has drilled in Mexico for Pemex, and in Colombia for Hupecol Caracara and Solana Resources.[3] In 2003, he sold much of his Texas pipelines to Dan Duncan, the CEO of Enterprise Products Partners.[4] He is the first American wildcatter to drill in Mexico since former President Lázaro Cárdenas made it illegal for anyone but the Mexican government to do so.[4] However, he doesn't own the oil or natural gas, and only receives payment from the government for drilling it.[4]
As of September 2011, he is the 512th richest person in the world, and the 130th richest in the United States.[3] He is worth US$2.8 billion.[3] He collects World War II-era planes, and he owns 30, including Glacier Girl, which he bought for $10 million.[3][5] He is a recent esophageal cancer survivor.[3] He is married with four children, and he lives in San Antonio, Texas.[3] He also owns a ranch in Encinal, Texas.[5]