Distinguished Engineer Citations

Steve Gray

Distinguished Engineer

2026

Degree

B.S. Petroleum Engineering - Texas Tech University 1982

Citation

After graduating from Texas Tech University Steven Gray began his career in Shreveport, LA, in 1982 working for Texas Oil and Gas Corporation (TXO).  During his 8 years at TXO he worked through several positions of increasing responsibility from drilling and production engineer to reservoir engineer to District Production Engineer.  In 1988 Gray moved to Dallas and took a role in TXO’s corporate reservoir engineering group where he worked on reserve reporting, special projects, and corporate M&A activity.

In 1990 Gray moved to Graham, Texas and took a production engineering role with a small family-owned company called Bettis, Boyle, and Stovall.  In 1993 Mr. Gray and his partner moved to Midland, Texas and formed their first oil and gas company with a small round of venture capital from friends and family.  In 1995 they raised their first round of private equity from Natural Gas Partners (NGP) in Irving, Texas. This marked the start of Mr. Gray's 23-year partnership with NGP during which they built and sold several companies.

Mr. Gray was the Chief Executive Officer, co-founder, and a member of the board of directors of RSP Permian (NYSE: RSPP) from their inception in 2010 until their merger with Concho Resources in 2018. Mr. Gray and his partners started RSP Permian in 2010 with a $200 million commitment from Natural Gas Partners.  RSP became one of the early participants in the shale revolution in the Permian Basin and became public in 2014 with a market capitalization of $1.5 billion.  In 2018 RSP merged with Concho Resources.  At the time of the merger, RSP was valued at $9.5 billion, making it the largest acquisition of a Permian Basin company in history at that time.  After the merger Mr. Gray joined the board of directors of Concho Resources until its acquisition by ConocoPhillips in 2021. Additionally, he served as a director on the board of Range Resources Corporation (NYSE: RRC) from 2018 through 2024.    

Mr. Gray presently serves as President of The Gray Family Partnership.  He is Chairman of the Board of Directors for both Permian Resources Corporation (NYSE:PR) and Infinity Natural Resources (NYSE: INR), each publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange.  

In addition to his business endeavors Mr. Gray sits on the board of directors for the Texas Tech University System Foundation and was previously a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Whitacre College of Engineering at Texas Tech University, and is a member of the Petroleum Engineering Academy at Texas Tech.  He is also a past member of the Executive Advisory Council of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas, and in 2016 Mr. Gray received the national Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the Energy and Clean Technology category. He lives in Frisco, Texas, with his wife of 43 years, Debbie, and together they have three children and eight grandchildren.