Five alumni were elected Distinguished Engineering Graduates of The University of Texas at Austin and were honored at fall commencement ceremonies on Dec. 9.
The annual selections, made by the College’s Engineering Advisory Board, are based on outstanding professional records, public service, support of education, and other significant events.
The 2006 Distinguished Engineering Graduates are: Blandford Partnership President Joe Blandford, Murphy Oil Corp. Director Robert Hermes, AMD Chairman and CEO Hector Ruiz, Discovery Operating Inc. Chairman Don Sparks, and ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson.
For more than two decades, Joe Blandford improved oil and gas recovery efforts through innovative technology that he developed while leading Atlantia Offshore in Houston. His offshore technology focus began while earning a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering with an ocean option from the university in 1972.
After graduation, he designed and constructed tanker terminals for Fluor Ocean Services and completed his master’s degree in civil engineering in 1977. In 1979, Blandford founded Atlantia Offshore and now has more than 60 patents to his credit for offshore technology.
Under Blandford’s leadership as chairman and CEO, Atlantia installed more than 200 shallow and deep-water platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere. The company received the Tibbetts Award in 1993 from the U.S. Department of Energy for this innovative technology, and the Technology Excellence Award from the Offshore Technology Conference in 2003.
Atlantia was acquired by a European consortium in 2001, and Blandford has remained professionally active since retiring in 2003. He is president of the board of directors for the Petroleum Club of Houston and a member of its foundation’s board of directors. He is also a member of the Independent Petroleum Association of America and other professional organizations. He and his wife Pat have a cattle ranch near Houston, and he is an avid private pilot, with an instrument rating.
Blandford serves on the UT System Chancellor’s Council and Development Board, and is a member of UT’s CAEE Academy of Distinguished Alumni. His myriad activities supporting the College of Engineering include: life membership in Friends of Alec; immediate past chairmanship of the Engineering Advisory Board; participation in LeaderShape Texas educating students on leadership skills; support of faculty recruiting efforts; development of the UT Energy Institute; and development of a new research building to foster multidisciplinary College teaching and research projects.
All four of the Blandford clan earned their degrees from The University of Texas at Austin. Most recently, both daughters earned their civil engineering degrees here.
Dr. Robert “Bob” Hermes has had a major impact on the global refining industry as a leading consultant for the downstream petroleum industry for more than 30 years.
The accolades started as an undergraduate at The University of Texas at Austin, where Hermes earned a chemical engineering degree in 1962. He was a member of several honor societies on campus, and received an outstanding student award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He completed a chemical engineering doctorate at the University of Minnesota in 1965, and spent several years at Mobil Oil Corp. before becoming a consultant.
Soon after he joined Purvin & Gertz, which provides technical and other advice to the oil and gas industry, Hermes worked his way up to managing the company’s London office. He then served as company president and CEO from 1987 to 1999, and chairman of Purvin & Gertz from 2000 to 2004.
The Houstonite doubled the consulting company’s staff during his executive tenure and oversaw its expansion into China and other countries. The company’s international reach also allowed him to advise on energy policy for the United States, Saudi Arabia, and more than a dozen other countries.
Since retiring, he has been a board member for Murphy Oil Corp., and for Urban Harvest, a non-profit that uses gardening to strengthen Houston communities.
Hermes is a longstanding supporter of the College of Engineering. His financial and leadership commitment to the McKetta Challenge fund-raising campaign in the 1990s was instrumental to its success. He is a Friend of Alec, and an active member of the College’s Engineering Advisory Board since 1998. In 2003, he helped establish the Alumni Endowment Fund Drive for the Department of Chemical Engineering. He and his wife also established a Donor Advised Charitable Gift Fund to benefit the College of Engineering.
Dr. Hector de J. Ruiz has successfully directed one of the world’s leading semiconductor companies while promoting interest in understanding technology’s ability to address social issues.
His career began at The University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1968 and 1969, respectively. Ruiz then completed a doctoral degree at Rice University in 1973. While at Rice, he began working at Texas Instruments, and spent five years there in various research and other positions. He joined Motorola in 1977, becoming president of its semiconductor sector in 1997.
He became AMD’s president and chief operating officer in 2000. Since his promotion to chief executive officer in 2002, Ruiz has been the driving force behind one of the company’s biggest financial turnarounds. From a $1.3 billion loss in 2002, AMD has experienced substantial growth and profitability largely because of Ruiz’s efforts to make AMD a trusted supplier in the server market. Today, all the world’s major global computer manufacturers offer AMD-based solutions, and more than 60 percent of the top 500 of the Forbes Global 2000 companies or their subsidiaries use AMD technology, including Toyota and Merck KGAA.
Ruiz’s interest in global outreach is demonstrated by AMD’s 50x15 initiative. It seeks to enable half the world’s population to have affordable Internet access by 2015. AMD also helped establish the Green Grid Consortium, a non-profit of technology professionals addressing global energy-consumption issues. Ruiz has also held a governor’s position in the World Economic Forum since 2003.
Ruiz’s civic commitments have previously included chairing a fundraising campaign for Austin’s United Way. Currently he serves on President Bush’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology, and the board of directors for Spansion Inc., Eastman Kodak Co., and the Semiconductor Industry Association.
A Life Member of Texas Exes, Ruiz also has served on the College’s Engineering Advisory Board since 1998. As such, he has prompted greater AMD support of College initiatives for students and departments.
Don Sparks founded a successful independent oil company that operates 280 wells in the Midland, Texas, area.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 1962. After briefly working for Shell Oil Co. in Midland, he entered the U.S. Navy that year. He rejoined Shell Oil in 1965 as an exploitation engineer for oil fields in West Texas, eventually becoming a reservoir engineer there.
His management skills became essential when he joined Freeport Oil Co. to oversee their drilling, completion and production operations west of the Mississippi River. Two years later, he returned to Midland to open a private consulting business and co-found Discovery Operating Inc.
He currently is chairman of the board for the oil company, which also involves his wife, Gwyndolyn, and their three children. The company’s wells daily produce about 1,500 barrels of crude oil and condensate, and about 10 million cubic feet of gas. In 1980, Sparks merged his petroleum engineering consulting business with an Austin colleague’s business to form Platt, Sparks & Associates Consulting Petroleum Engineers Inc. The company evaluates properties, performs reservoir studies, provides expert testimony and other consultations in Midland and Austin.
Sparks is actively involved in energy-related associations, including serving as vice president for four years of the Independent Petroleum Association of America. He has received the association’s Leadership Award, among other honors. For his focus on his Midland community and professional accomplishments, Sparks has also received awards that include the Outstanding Philanthropic Family award from the regional chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
His community support has included hosting a gathering for Midland area students to interest them in attending The University of Texas at Austin. In addition, he served for three years on the external advisory committee of the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, and continues to support Friends of Alec. Two of his children have earned bachelor’s degrees from the university, and a grandson is pursuing a petroleum engineering degree here.
As the leader of Exxon Mobil Corp., Rex Tillerson oversees oil global operations of the world’s largest non-government energy company. A civil engineer by background, he has influenced many major oil and gas exploration and development projects globally.
Tillerson earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at The University of Texas at Austin in 1975. He entered the workforce that year as a production engineer at the former Exxon Co., U.S.A., and has held positions of increasing engineering and management responsibility within predecessors of the company since then. These include serving as president of Exxon Yemen, of Esso Exploration and Production Khorat Inc., and of Exxon Neftegas Ltd., responsible for upstream holdings in Yemen, Thailand and Russia.
In 1999, Tillerson became executive vice president of Exxon Mobil Development Co., overseeing the company’s upstream development projects worldwide. Two years later, he became senior vice president of Exxon Mobil Corp., and was elected president in 2004. He assumed his current position as chairman and CEO in January 2006.
His professional responsibilities include being a director and recent chairman-elect of the American Petroleum Institute and a director of the U.S.-Russia Business Council. He is also a trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and an honorary trustee for the Business Council for International Understanding.
An Eagle Scout, Tillerson has participated in all level of activities of the Boy Scouts of America during the past 45 years. He currently serves on the organization’s National Executive Board. His civic involvement also includes serving on the board of directors for the United Negro College Fund.
A life member of the Friends of Alec, Tillerson sets an example through his support of the College scholarship fund. He has been a member of the College’s Engineering Advisory Board for six years, applying his professional expertise to College interests, and is a new member of the UT Development Board.
He is married to Renda, and two of their four children have earned engineering degrees at the university. His youngest son is a freshman pursuing a mechanical engineering degree.
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