Founder and Vice Chairman, Hillwood International Energy
Jerome (Jerry) Fullinwider is Vice Chairman and founder of Hillwood International Energy, a privately owned oil and gas exploration and development firm. After beginning his career with Standard Oil of Ohio, and later as General Manager of Cherry Brothers in Dallas, he saw opportunity in 1964 to become an independent oil operator in West Texas, his longtime goal. Aware that major oil companies were exiting West Texas while still holding a huge inventory of leases on millions of acres of potential oil property, Fullinwider figured he’d be able to get the departing businesses to assign him certain acreage free if he would agree to drill a well and pay them a small royalty. There was his opportunity. So in 1964 with only $5,000 in the bank, he moved his wife and two young daughters to Midland where he knew only three people. He and his partner, Victor Vasicek, founded V-F Petroleum, Inc. and slowly capitalized on contractual agreements with major lease owners known as “farmouts.” The first year Fullinwider lived in Midland funds were meager. He took home $8500 for the whole year, but remarked that life was good because it was a fine place for the children to grow up and they were only three blocks from schools and church. Thanks to years of dedication and calculated risk, things began to pay off financially. By 1989, his business had increased substantially, and Fullinwider, along with four prominent oil company heads, was invited to Houston to meet with high ranking Soviet oil officials. Soviet oil production was in steep decline so the Soviet Ministry of Fuel & Energy sent groups to various western oil centers seeking advice. In attending this first meeting, Fullinwider began what would become a long-term relationship with several well-placed Soviet officials. He founded VF-Russia, Inc. to investigate oil opportunities in West Siberia, Fullinwider voiced his interest in developing oil fields in the Volga-Ural Basin of southern Russia and in 1991 received Soviet permission to do so. It wasn’t long before VF-Russia had 107 Russian employees who Fullinwider later described as ‘some of the best educated and innovative workers he had encountered.’ Ministry officials refer to him as the only independent oil operator in Russia. VF-Russia proved successful in its development, forming BaiTex LLC, which now operates and develops oil fields in the Baituganskoye region of southern Russia. With domestic offices in Texas, and international locations in Kurdistan (Iraq) and Russia, Fullinwider has spoken widely on current Russian affairs. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Southern Methodist University in 1951, and is a 1953 graduate of the United States Naval School of Justice in Newport, Rhode Island. He was awarded a Doctor of Laws honorary degree from Northwood University in 2007. In May of 2011 he celebrated the establishment of the Jerome M. Fullinwider Endowed Chair in Economic Freedom at Southern Methodist University. In addition, he has served on many boards including Northwood University Board of Trustees and Board of Governors.
