High Level Energy

James (Jim) Houck '70, B.S. Engineering Science

How many times can an international energy executive come out of retirement? If you're Jim Houck, the answer is twice. And counting.

Jim, who grew up in San Antonio, knew in elementary school that he wanted to be an engineer but not which discipline. He chose Trinity because of the curriculum where he could pick different engineering courses of interest and the flexibility that a liberal arts college offered. He also appreciated the scholarship and loan package Trinity offered that supplemented his part-time jobs.

His career in the energy industry began with a job in research and development for Texaco in Houston. "Those were busy and fun years," he says nostalgically. "I was drilling wells in the East Texas oil patch by day and going full-time to graduate school to complete an MBA in the evenings."

Obviously talented, Jim went on to leadership roles at Getty Oil, Texaco, and Chevron. He lived in eight different cities across the country and at one point was literally traveling around the world once a month. It was a thrilling career punctuated by superlative events. He was part of the largest U.S. merger at the time when Texaco bought Getty Oil, where he was manager of Corporate Planning and Analyses. He was also part of the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history when Texaco used the maneuver to fight the Penzoil lawsuit, inspiring a book titled Oil and Honor about those times.

While Jim was president of Texaco Development Corporation and also general manager of Texaco's Alternate Energy Department, a currency crisis in Asia in 1996 threatened a $750 million gas-to-power project in Thailand. The financial rescue his team engineered was the first time anyone had cobbled together political risk insurance from both the U.S. government's Overseas Private Investment Corps and Japan's Ministry of Trade and Industry. Although he describes that as the most challenging situation he ever faced, the successful resolution earned his joint venture company the "Deal of the Year" award from Corporate Finance magazine.

Known for his integrity and adherence to his "do the right thing, the right way" philosophy, Jim says his proudest career moment came when, as president of worldwide power and gasification at Texaco, he recommended that the Board not take advantage of California's two largest utilities—as other companies did and were subsequently sued for predatory practices—when they could not pay their multi-hundred-million-dollar bills. "We stood by our obligations and reputation to do the right thing," he says. Ultimately, the two entities paid back the amounts plus some interest. "Thank heavens," he adds.

After 28 years, Jim retired from what is now known as Texaco Chevron and was happily working for a private equity firm buying and selling energy assets when an opportunity arose to be CEO and join the Board of Directors of a public energy company in Canada. "The opportunity to learn and grow was compelling," he says. He moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and eventually sold a company to Marathon Oil for $7.1 billion—the largest oil and gas transaction in Canada in 2007—and spun off a new public company, where he is currently vice chair of the Board of Directors. He also joined the Board of Directors of another Top 60 energy public company in Canada. Not one to rest on his laurels, Jim came out of retirement a second time in 2009 to become CEO and Director of a public Canadian construction and industrial services company, where he served for another three and a half years before retiring again in mid-2011.

On a recent visit to the Trinity campus, Jim found both the engineering facilities and the students impressive. "As I shared with the students, when I left Trinity and first went to work in a research and development facility with a bunch of Ph.D. engineers from some very prestigious schools, I discovered that my education at Trinity was second to none," Jim says. "I'm very fortunate to have chosen to study there."

Today, Jim and his wife, Pamela, possess dual citizenships and divide their time between their home in Calgary, where he is an avid ice hockey fan, and a second home in Santa Barbara, Calif., that is close to family. He enjoys skiing in the Canadian Rockies as often possible, keeps up with global news, and has given back to his community over the years through the MS Society, United Way, and a small water support charity for underdeveloped countries that was founded in Calgary. For the road ahead, Jim plans to "keep loving my spouse, who is my best friend; stay engaged with my two Boards of Directors to create value for my company stakeholders; and spend time with my three offspring and the five grandkids." He rightly concludes, "I am a very lucky man."