Distinguished Engineer Citations

                 

Jack L. Byrd

Distinguished Engineer

1992

Degree

Petroleum Engineering – 1956

 

Citation

At Time of Nomination in 1992

Jack L. Byrd was born on November 12, 1934, in Miles, Texas. He received his B.S. degree in Petroleum Engineering from Texas Tech University in 1956. In 1971, he was a graduate of the two–year Modern Business Program of the Alexander Hamilton Institute.

Mr. Byrd has been a major figure in the petroleum industry in the Southwest. He joined Kewanee Oil Company in 1956 as Production Engineer with various assignments in Texas and Oklahoma and remained with that company for 18 years. During that time, he served as District Engineer in Shidler, Oklahoma; District Superintendent in Borger, Texas; Division Engineer in Pampa, Texas; and Chief Evaluation Engineer in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1972, as Vice President and General Manager for Sound Refining, Inc., a Kewanee subsidiary located in Tacoma, Washington, he supervised all refinery operations. He also served on the Board of Directors of Sound Refining and on the Executive Committee of the Clean Sound Cooperative, an industry oil spill organization, for three years.

Mr. Byrd returned to West Texas in 1975 as Executive Vice President of Hytech Energy Corporation, a company operating over 500 oil and gas wells in Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas. In 1979, with Distinguished Engineer James W. Lacy, he cofounded Lacy & Byrd, Inc., an independent oil and gas company in Midland, Texas. First as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and later as President and Chief Executive Officer, he has provided leadership both within Lacy & Byrd, Inc., and in the oil and gas community. Mr. Byrd and his immediate family members became sole owners of Lacy & Byrd in 1992. He now is Chairman of the Board and Majority Owner.

Mr. Byrd has been a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers for 36 years and is past chairman and director of the Northern Oklahoma Section of that organization. He also is a past director and currently a member of the advisory board of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association and is a member of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. His other professional activities include membership in the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the Texas Mid–Continent Oil & Gas Association, the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Association, and the Petroleum Industry Security Council.

Mr. Byrd has been a strong supporter of the Texas Tech Ex–Students Association and the Red Raider Club, where Lacy & Byrd, Inc., has funded a scholarship for several years. A past member of the President’s Council at Texas Tech University, Mr. Byrd has made Texas Tech and its students strong priorities in terms of his stewardship and service.

He and his wife, Marline, have three children, Jeff, Greg, and Shari, all of whom live in Midland. His oldest son, Jeff, has a B.S. Degree in Industrial Engineering and an M.B.A. from Texas Tech.

It is an honor and a pleasure for Texas Tech to recognize Jack L. Byrd as DISTINGUISHED ENGINEER.

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