To be a Fortune 500 CEO in the state of Texas, it doesn't take an Ivy League education.
In fact, only one CEO attended such a hallowed institution, according to research from Kittleman & Associates by way of Digital Third Coast, which looked into undergraduate backgrounds of Fortune 500 CEOs across the U.S.
That one Ivy League CEO of a Texas Fortune 500 company would be Clay Williams, who leads Houston-based National Oilwell Varco (NYSEL NOV).
Out of 48 Fortune 500 CEOs in Texas, 11 attended schools within the state.
Four CEOs call Texas A&M University their alma mater, making it the most represented college among the group. William Thomas of EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG), Darren Woods of Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Greg Garland of Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX), and Joe Bob Perkins of Targa Resources (NYSE: TRGP) were all Aggies.
The University of Texas at Austin boasts three alums, according to the research, including Michael Dell of Dell Technologies, Inc., Scott Prochazka of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE: CNP), and Gary Kelly of Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV).
Kelcy Warren of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE: ET) attended The University of Texas at Arlington, also within the Lone Star state's school system.
The University of Utah was the most popular out-of-state undergraduate choice among these CEOs — but only for a total of two.
You'll note that, given Texas' abundance of energy-related companies on the Fortune 500 list, colleges with highly regarded engineering and applied sciences programs are a common thread
throughout the list. Several universities with liberal arts approaches are also represented, like Brandeis, Wesleyan and Vanderbilt.
You can see where all Fortune 500 CEOs in Texas attended college in the gallery above. CEOs are organized alphabetically by company name.
Two CEOs were excluded from the gallery. Digital Third Coast and other research could not identify where A. James Teague, CEO of Enterprise Products in Houston, attended college. Dr Pepper Snapple was also removed — and thereby longtime CEO Larry Young — from contention due to the completion of its merger with Keurig.
A few new hires and succession plans led the Business Journal to perform additional research to determine the educational backgrounds for newcomers. These are marked accordingly in the "source" field of the attached gallery, and were not independently verified.
