{{short description|American businessman (1934-2020)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2015}} {{Infobox person | name = Joe B. Foster | image = JFB australia photo.2000.jpg | caption = Foster on an offshore rig, drilling for Newfield Exploration Company in the Timor Sea | birth_name = Joe Bill Foster | birth_date = {{Birth date|1934|7|25}} | birth_place = Arp, Texas, U.S. | known_for = {{Plainlist| * Founder and CEO, Newfield Exploration (1989–2005) * Chairman, Newfield Exploration (2000–2005) * Executive VP, Tennecco, Inc. (1983–1988) * Chairman, Tennessee Gas 1983–1988 * Interim CEO, Baker Hughes, Inc. (2000) * Operating Trustee, Texaco Refining and Marketing, Inc. (2001–2002) * Chairman, National Petroleum Council (1997–1999) * Honoree, Texas Business Hall of Fame (2006) }} | education = {{plainlist| * Texas A&M University * (B.B.A. General Business) * (B.S. Petroleum Engineering) }} | employer = | occupation = Oilman, businessman | title = | boards = {{Plainlist| * Baker Hughes * Tennecco, Inc. * New Jersey Resources * J. Ray McDermott & Co. * National Petroleum Council * Houston Museum of Natural Science * YMCA of Greater Houston * Texas A&M University Foundation * Houston A+ Challenge<ref name=pe.tamu>{{cite web |title=Joe B. Foster '56 |url=http://corps.tamu.edu/portfolio-items/joe-foster/ |website=Corps of Cadets |publisher=Texas A&M University |access-date=October 29, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621214026/http://corps.tamu.edu/portfolio-items/joe-foster/ |archive-date=June 21, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> }} | spouse = {{Plainlist| * {{Marriage|Harriet Foster|1991}}<ref name="chron">{{cite news |title=Memorial couple Joe and Harriet Foster to be honored by Houston Hospice |work=Houston Chronicle |first=Kim |last=Hughes |date=October 15, 2007 |url=http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/memorial-news/article/Memorial-couple-Joe-and-Harriet-Foster-to-be-1825852.php}}</ref> * {{Marriage|Mary Alice Foster|1957|1990|reason=divorced}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Mary Alice Forster |work=Bangor Daily News |date=September 25, 2008 |url=http://bangordailynews.com/2008/09/25/obituaries/mary-alice-foster/}}</ref> }} | signature = | signature_alt = | website = {{URL|www.newfield.com}} | footnotes = | death_date = {{d-da|May 9, 2020|July 25, 1934}} }}
'''Joe B. Foster''' (July{{nbsp}}25, 1934{{snd}}May{{nbsp}}9, 2020) was an American businessman, oilman and philanthropist from Texas. From 1989 to 2005, Foster was chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Newfield Exploration Company, headquartered in Houston.<ref>{{cite web |title=Joe Bill Foster |url=https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/houston-tx/joe-foster-9179391 |publisher=Dignity Memorial |access-date=6 October 2021}}</ref> Previously, Foster was chairman of Tenneco Oil Company and executive vice president and director of its parent, Tenneco Inc. He was with Tenneco for 31 years and also served as chairman of the Tenneco Gas Pipeline Group.<ref name="reuters">{{cite press release|title=Joe B. Foster Joins Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.|publisher=Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co|date=January 16, 2008|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/2008/01/16/idUS153855+16-Jan-2008+BW20080116|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201072921/http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/01/16/idUS153855+16-Jan-2008+BW20080116|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 1, 2013}}</ref>
Foster was born in Arp, Texas, and attended Texas A&M University. He graduated in 1957 with a bachelor of science degree in petroleum engineering and a bachelor of business administration degree in general business. In May 1997, he was named a distinguished alumnus of Texas A&M University.<ref name=Mays /> Foster served as chairman of the National Petroleum Council, an industry advisory body to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, and in 1995–1996 served as chairman of the Offshore Committee of the Independent Petroleum Association of America. He was a director of Memorial Hermann Hospital System and served as chairman of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Greater Houston YMCA, and the Texas A&M Development Foundation.<ref name="pe.tamu" /> He also served on the boards of Baker Hughes Incorporated and New Jersey Resources Corporation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Joe B. Foster |website=The Wall Street Transcript |url=http://www.twst.com/?bio=Joe+B.+Foster |access-date=October 29, 2015|date=September 10, 2015 }}</ref> Foster was chairman and a senior advisor at Tudor, Pickering, and Holt 2008–2016.
== Career == In addition to his tenures at Newfield and Tenneco, Joe Foster's corporate directorships included Baker Hughes, Inc., McDermott International, Inc., New Jersey Resources Corporation, Valero Energy, Dual Drilling, and Targa Resources, Inc. From February through August 2000, Foster served as interim chairman, president and chief executive officer of Baker Hughes Incorporated, while the company searched for a new chief executive. In 2001–2002, Foster served as the independent trustee for a large portion of Texaco's refining and marketing assets which were required to be divested in the course of the Chevron–Texaco merger.<ref name="pe.tamu" /><ref>{{cite press release |title=Joe B. Foster Elected to McDermott International Board of Directors |publisher=McDermott International |first=Don |last=Washington |date=June 7, 1999 |url=http://www.mcdermott-investors.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=96360&p=irol-newsArticle_print&ID=35130&highlight |access-date=December 30, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204081632/http://www.mcdermott-investors.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=96360&p=irol-newsArticle_print&ID=35130&highlight |archive-date=February 4, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=About Directors|url=http://www.targaresources.com/about-directors.html|last=|first=|date=|website=|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120724052935/http://www.targaresources.com/about-directors.html|archive-date=July 24, 2012|access-date=December 30, 2012}}</ref>
=== Tenneco Oil === {{Main|Tenneco}} Foster was chairman of Tenneco Oil Company and executive vice president and director of its parent, Tenneco Inc.<ref>http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1993_1105901/tenneco-exes-firm-succeeds-but-newfield-exploratio.html{{dead link|date=October 2015}}</ref> He began with Tenneco as a junior petroleum engineer in Oklahoma City in 1957. After serving in several engineering positions in Lafayette, Louisiana, while Tenneco was establishing its Gulf of Mexico operations, he became chief of planning and economic analysis for Tenneco Oil Exploration and Production in Houston in 1968. He rose through the ranks of Tenneco Oil, becoming its president in 1978. In 1981, he was named to the board of directors of Tenneco Inc. and assumed corporate-level responsibility for all of Tenneco Inc.’s upstream, downstream, and gas pipeline businesses. He left Tenneco when its board elected to divest Tenneco Oil in 1988.<ref>{{cite news |title=Company News; Bids Are Weighed For Tenneco Units |work=The New York Times |date=June 3, 1988 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/03/business/company-news-bids-are-weighed-for-tenneco-units.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Two Top Executives at Tenneco Plan to Leave |date=December 15, 1988 |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-12-15-fi-441-story.html}}</ref>
=== Newfield Exploration === {{Main|Newfield Exploration}} Joe B. Foster was the founder of Newfield Exploration Company, a Houston-based oil and gas exploration company. He served as chief executive officer until his retirement from active management in January 2000, and remained as chairman of its board until May 2005. Foster founded Newfield in 1989 as a private start-up with $9{{nbsp}}million of equity capital provided by himself, other employees, a group of Houston investors, and University of Texas Endowment funds. It became a public company in 1993, and its recent market value was about $5{{nbsp}}billion.<ref name="Mays">{{cite web |url=http://mays.tamu.edu/news/2006/09/01/grads-honored-for-teaching-service-marketing-efforts/ |title=Grads Honored for Teaching, Service, Marketing Efforts |publisher=Mays Business School |work=Texas A&M University |date=September 1, 2006 |access-date=October 29, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Spending Time With Joe Foster & Team Newfield In Art Smith's New Book, 'Something from Nothing'|url=http://blogs.oilandgasinvestor.com/blog/2011/06/30/spending-time-with-joe-foster-team-newfield-in-art-smith%E2%80%99s-new-book-%E2%80%98something-from-nothing%E2%80%99/|last=|first=|date=|website=|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120627181834/http://blogs.oilandgasinvestor.com/blog/2011/06/30/spending-time-with-joe-foster-team-newfield-in-art-smith%E2%80%99s-new-book-%E2%80%98something-from-nothing%E2%80%99/|archive-date=June 27, 2012|access-date=December 30, 2012}}</ref>
=== Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. === Foster was affiliated with the Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. investment banking firm, serving as chairman of its TPH Partners private equity Fund I, and as a senior advisor to its Fund II. In addition, he participated as a non-operating partner in drilling oil and gas wells in the Gulf Coast area.<ref name="reuters" />
== Philanthropy == He served on several not-for-profit boards of directors, including the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, Houston Hospice, and the YMCA of Greater Houston. He also served as chairman of Houston A+ Challenge (formerly Houston Annenberg Challenge), an organization directed at improving public schools in the Houston area.<ref name="chron" />
=== Community service === * Chairman, Greater Houston YMCA, 1989–1991 * Chairman, Houston Museum of Natural Science, 1991 * Chairman, Houston A+ Challenge, 2009–2010 * Director, Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, 1999–2006 * Director, Houston Hospice * Texas A&M Foundation, trustee, 1988–1996; chairman, 1993<ref name="amazon">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Arthur |title=Something From Nothing: Joe B. Foster And The People Who Built Newfield Exploration Company |year=2011 |publisher=Bright Sky Press |location=Houston Texas |isbn=978-1933979434 |pages=216}}</ref>
== Awards and recognition == Foster was named "Entrepreneur of the Year" in Houston's energy sector in 1994 and an "All American Wildcatter" in 1995. In 2004, he was named a Gulf of Mexico "Industry Pioneer" by the Offshore Energy Center in Galveston, Texas, and has been named the Houston World Affairs Council's 2006 Jones International Citizen of the Year.
=== Awards received === * Houston Entrepreneur of the Year, Energy Sector, 1994 <ref name="chron" /> * Distinguished Alumnus, Texas A&M, 1997<ref name="businesswire">{{cite press release |title=Joe B. Foster Joins Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. |publisher=Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. |agency=Business Wire |url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20080116005225/en/Joe-B.-Foster-Joins-Tudor-Pickering-Holt}}</ref> * Spindletop Service Award, 2000<ref name="amazon" /> * Mays College of Business, Outstanding Alumnus, 2001<ref name=Mays /> * Joe B. Foster Chair in Business Leadership, Mays Business School, 2004<ref name=Mays /> * Texas Business Hall of Fame, 2006<ref name="chron" />
== References == {{reflist}}
== Sources == * {{cite book |last=Smith |first=Arthur L. |title=Something From Nothing: Joe B. Foster And The People Who Built Newfield Exploration Company |year=2011 |publisher=Bright Sky Press |location=Houston, Texas |isbn=978-1-93397-943-4 |pages=216}}
== External links == * [http://www.newfield.com/ Newfield Exploration Official Site] * [http://www.ymcahouston.org/harriet-joe-foster-family The Joe and Harriet Foster Family YMCA] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20150223085040/http://www.pe.tamu.edu/ib/cm/webpages/foster.html Joe B. Foster Texas Aggie Profile Page]
=== Interviews === * {{cite web |url=http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1853753381001 |title=Investing in the Next Hot Spot in Energy |publisher=Fox News |date=September 21, 2012}} * {{cite news |url=http://www.twst.com/interview/2160 |title=CEO Interview |work=The Wall Street Transcript |date=March 5, 1999 |location=New York}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Joe, B.}} Category:1934 births Category:2020 deaths Category:American chief executives Category:20th-century American inventors Category:American chairpersons of corporations Category:Businesspeople from Houston Category:People from Arp, Texas Category:Texas A&M University alumni Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:21st-century American businesspeople