Rick Lewis:  

After High School I spent a year at Del Mar and then 4 years at the University of Texas. I ended up with a couple of degrees in business (Management and Petroleum Land Management) and loved my time in Austin. I spent the next 40 years working in the domestic and international oil & gas business as a Petroleum Landman and an International Petroleum Negotiator. My early career had me negotiating Oil & Gas Leases in 12 different states, and later purchasing producing fields and small independent companies for Conoco Inc. Ten years in I was selected to work internationally, and spent four years working in Japan, Taiwan, Korea and The Netherlands negotiating, drafting and managing joint exploration projects in Africa and Asia. Returning to domestic work in the early 1990s I managed producing projects in Texas and Louisiana and developed and managed a mentoring program for new hires in the company. In 1984, I married Lydia Dartez, a Louisiana cajun and LSU graduate I met in the oil business. In 1986 we had our first son Dane, and in 1989 our second son Derek. We moved around a bunch (even had a 2 year stint back in Corpus), but I managed to be a "hands on" dad, coaching youth baseball, football, soccer, track & field, and tennis. Lydia and I were both adult Cub Scout leaders and I served as a Boy Scout Scoutmaster for 4 years. In 2000 I was offered a position in Houston and saw a chance to settle in and put down more permanent roots. Conoco Inc. merged with Phillips Petroleum Co. several years earlier and allowed me to return to purchasing producing properties, managing a Texas producing portfolio, and expand my mentoring program with the huge influx of young professionals entering the business due to the Texas shale boom. As that boom eventually waned, I was graciously offered a package and retired in October 2015. Having been able to travel extensively in my career, I was able to scratch my wande...Expand for more