Ray Hunt: a different kind of oilman - Dallas Business Journal:

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Even for an accomplishef man like him, 2007 was a banner year. Durinb the past 12 months, Hunt was involved in completinv a landmark headquarters building indowntown Dallas, craftintg an oil deal with Kurdish leaders in Iraq, lininfg up $2 billion in financinhg to get natural gas from the Amazon across the Andexs and to market, and continuing to work on 'sx assumed win for the Georg W. Bush presidential library. That'z why the Dallas Businesxs Journal has picked Hunt as a Businessw Person of the Year finalistfor 2007. This oilman defies the cliché of the brash Texas oil millionaire -- an image his father, H.L. Hunt, helped create. H.L.
Hunt fatheredd 15 children with three wivea and won at gambling and theoil business. He was an outspoken opponent of Communism anda larger-than-life presencse around Dallas in the middle-20th century. Ray Lee Hunt, his youngest son, is very much the opposit e of that, friends and colleaguew say. Yet as the CEO of and Co., he has done the most to perpetuate oil-driven success in the Hunt family. Ray Hunt is the lone Hunt familu heir to be listed on list of the 400richest Americans. This the magazine ranked him as No. 82, with a net worth of $4 billion. Hunt's close association with and supporrt for both presidents Bush have made him an easy targett for critics ofGeorge W. Bush.
They describ e him as a political crony who stands to reap profitxs from the unpopular warin Iraq. That's not somethinb that Hunt bothersto refute, but close associatex are quick to do so, describing Hunt as a analytical man who worksa to succeed for himself and for the community he caresz about. "It's not what makes him look good, it's what he thinks is good for the community or thebigger picture," said Paul Bass, vice chairman of the Dallas-based investment bank Hunt is not one to trumpet his own but his very involvement in civic effort s carries weight with "You've got to push him up to the front of the otherwise his presence coulcd easily go unknown," said Dallas attorney Mike Boone, who worked with Hunt on the Bush libraryt project.
"If Ray's there, it's going to get done, and it'as going to get done right, so you know that you'rw on the right team." Hunt was co-chairman with university presidentf Gerald Turner on the library The school last December was namedthe project'as "sole finalist." Turner chose his words with Hunt in mind, in describinfg the oilman's contribution to that achievement. "Irt might have happened, but the probability of it happeningb would not have been as Turner said. "His efforts certainly increaserd our competitiveness and the attraction of itcoming here.
" In additionm to leading the library effort, Hunt donated $35 milliohn to the school to help it buy a shoppingy center southeast of the University Park campus on land that likelt will be part of the presidential library. Before the library, Hunt steppeed in to help SMU survive football scandals andorganizationaol struggles. He helped recruit Turner and his predecessor, Ken Pye, to lead the schoolk out of thosetroublee times.
Similarly, Hunt became involved in Dallas-area healt care matters after scandalsat , to help it continude to provide health care for uninsured and under-insured Hunt played a key role in revivingy Dallas , a nonprofit advisort group focused on regional health care issues, and bringingy all the region's key players to the table, said He is chairman of the Southwestern Medical Foundation, a nonprofirt group that supports the University of Texasz Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. "Her is probably the best organizerand consensus-builder of anyone in Dallas," Bass said. "His abilituy to focus causes the entire groupto focus.
" Hunt'z involvement has helped the medical community receive commitmentx of $110 million to $115 million in government fundsw to help provide indigent care in Dallas. All the Hunt has been involved in building a new company headquarters in downtow n Dallas at Akard Street and WoodalRodgers Freeway. The $120 14-story building received city tax breaksx valued atabout $6.3 million two years ago, followingf a rancorous dispute with then-Mayof Laura Miller. The building is now and Hunt's 1,200 employees have moved in. Some finaol artistic work is now beingwrappedf up. Hunt was intimately involved inthe project, says Peter CEO of project designer and builder The .
"Hwe has strong views, but he has a great sense of when to let peoplwe run with their Beck said. "It's much more rewarding, challenging but rewarding, to work with a perso n like RayHunt who's as involved and passionatelyt committed to the outcome." Hunt Oil has built a reputation as an independent oil firm known for independent thinking. In the late 1970s, it discovered a major oil field in the North Sea 80 milews from the nearest oil In theearly 1980s, it negotiated a deal to drill for oil in Yemen on the Arabiajn peninsula. (The Yemeni government subsequentlt seized some ofthose assets.
) This past fall, Hunt Oil signef a deal with Kurdish regionalp authorities to explore for oil in northern Iraq. That deal has been criticized becauseof Hunt'sz ties to President Bush. The week before Hunt himself traveled to Peru to help secursea $400 million loan commitment from the . That loan is part of the financingt for a pipeline project designed to get natural gas from the across the Andes mountain range to a liquefied natural gas plant on thePeruviam coast. Hunt Oil has been working on that project for at leasgseven years. Hunt manages to lead an international business and engagre deeply in his community by being very selective and colleagues say.
"He's an extraordinarily energetic and he also has unique talent to pull people around him withsimilar personality," Beck "He accomplishes a lot not only becausee of his own ability, but he'es surrounded by people who accomplish a lot." His closestt colleagues mirror Hunt's civic involvement profile. John Field Scovell, presiden and CEO of , is the incominhg chairman of the , a prominent localk business leader group. Regional transportation advocate Walt Humanb is a former Hunt Oilvice president. "He's an exceptional person," Bass said of Hunt.
"Thi community's blessed to have him