Jeffrey Hildebrand Net Worth & Biography

Jeffrey Hildebrand Net Worth & Biography

American businessman and entrepreneur Jeffrey Hildebrand founded Hilcorp in 1989 with two business partners, after a stint at Exxon. Like many oil patch start-ups, his company, Hilcorp grew by acquiring proven fields that bigger and established competitors considered too small. Using advanced technology, Hilcorp boosted well production, and has since become popular for sharing its success: in 2011 each of the company’s 699 employees received a bonus of $50,000 toward a new car in a scheme that was designed to reward company staff for doubling the production rate, company’s value, and reserves over five years. These double again by 2015, and each employee received bonuses of $100,000.

An early shareholder of the Eagle Ford Shale, Mr. Hildebrand sold his interests to Marathon Oil in 2011 for $1.4 billion (more than ten times his initial investment) and has plowed the profits into other shale plays, such as the offshore fields of Cook Inlet, Alaska, as well as the Utica, in Ohio. This couldn’t have come at a more convenient time for Cook Inlet. After production decreased under previous owners, services in southern Alaska feared having to close down in the dead of winter. But Hilcorp is boosting output as usual and has so far provided enough gas to keep those companies and their various plants running through the next couple of years. Mr. Hildebrand and his wife, Mindy, are known to be regulars on Houston’s social circuit and have donated to the Contemporary Arts Museum and the Houston Zoo.

 Early Life: Childhood, Education

Hilcorp Energy Company’s founder, chief executive officer, and chairman, Jeffery Hildebrand, was born in the United States in 1959.

In 1981, he received a bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of Texas at Austin. He later revisited the same institution for a master’s degree in petroleum engineering in 1985.

Mr. Hildebrand is also recognized as a distinguished engineering graduate of the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.

 Professional Life: Entrepreneurial Career

After completing his education, Jeffery Hildebrand worked for several companies including the American Energy Capital Corporation, Exxon Company, and the Dan A. Hughes Company, until he started his own company with two business partners in 1990. His company, Hilcorp Energy Company, is an oil and gas exploration and production company. He bought out his partners for $500 million in 2003.

For three consecutive years in 2013, 2014, and 2015, Fortune Magazine ranked Jeffery’s Hilcorp Energy Company among the “100 Best Companies to Work For”. After giving all his 699 employees a bonus of $50,000 each in 2011, he repeated the gesture in December 2015 by giving all 1,380 employees a Christmas bonus of $100,000.

Jeffrey Hildebrand is also busy with lots of other meaningful activities outside of his roles at his oil company. He is a member of the Louisiana Independent Oil & Gas Association, the Texas Independent Petroleum Royalty Owners Association, the Houston Geological Society, the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Houston Energy Finance Group, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the National Petroleum Council, the All American Wildcatters, and the Engineering Advisory Board at the University of Texas at Austin.

Philanthropy

Mr. Hildebrand enjoys making charitable contributions as well as supporting various humanitarian causes in his local community. He was a major funder of the Texas A&M’s Hildebrand Equine Complex and has made charitable contributions to the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and the Houston Zoo.

In November 2017, he donated the sum of $25 million to the University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering. In recognition of his selfless contribution, the university decided to name the department the “Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering”.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Greg Abbott, in April 2020, named Jeffrey Hildebrand to the Strike Force to Open Texas – a group responsible for finding safe and effective ways to reopen the state amid the pandemic.

Personal Life: Wife, Children, Private Interests

Mr. Hildebrand is married. He is a proud father of three children.

He resides in Houston, Texas with his family and plays polo as one of his leisure activities.

Jeffrey Hildebrand Net Worth: Salary, Income Sources, Assets

Jeffrey Hildebrand has a net worth of $5.7 billion dollars. A resident of Houston, Texas, this American billionaire businessman is considered as one of the richest people in Texas. He started making his money as soon as he completed his education at the University of Texas at Austin by working for several companies and organizations including the American Energy Capital Corporation, Exxon Company, and the Dan A. Hughes Company, until he started his own company in 1990. His company, Hilcorp Energy Company, is an oil and gas exploration and production company. It has grown exponentially over the years. He also owns many oil fields in Alaska and in Ohio.

Mr. Jeffrey Hildebrand’s net worth was pegged at $1.9 billion back in 2010. He doubled his hustle within the past decade and made numerous notable investments and paid more attention to the businesses he founded and manages, and his wealth has nearly tripled within this period. He is the 77th richest American citizen.