Rex Tillerson, chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM), received the L. Frank Pitts Energy Leadership Award from the Maguire Energy Institute at SMU’s Cox School of Business in Dallas, SMU said Jan. 14.

The Energy Leadership Award committee selected Tillerson, who has worked at ExxonMobil for four decades. Tillerson is the sixth recipient of the award, which was first presented in 2010. It honors L. Frank Pitts, an oilman and independent oil and natural gas producer in Texas.

Pitts participated in drilling more than 3,000 wells over almost seven decades. Pitts was a member of the Maguire Energy Institute’s advisory board. Pitts' daughter, Linda Pitts Custard, is a former member of the SMU board of trustees and an alumna of SMU Cox, and she serves on the award event committee for the Pitts Energy Leadership Award luncheon.

Proceeds from the awards luncheon will support the Maguire Energy Institute, named in honor of oilman and co-founder Cary M. Maguire. They also will support scholarship programs for students in energy master’s of business administration and bachelor’s of business administration degree programs.

Tillerson, from Wichita Falls, Texas, earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1975. After working as a production engineer with Exxon Co. USA, he became general manager of the company's central production division in 1989, handling oil and gas production operations throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas. He became Exxon Corp.’s production adviser in 1992.

Tillerson later was vice president of Exxon Yemen Inc. and Esso Exploration and Production Khorat Inc. In 1998, he became vice president of Exxon Ventures (CIS) Inc. and president of Exxon Neftegas Ltd., handling Exxon's holdings in Russia, the Caspian Sea and the Sakhalin I consortium operation offshore Sakhalin Island.

In 1999, Tillerson became executive vice president of ExxonMobil Development Co. and then senior vice president of Exxon Mobil Corp. in 2001. He became president and a member of the board of directors in 2004, taking his current position in 2006.

Tillerson is an executive committee member and former chair of the American Petroleum Institute, and a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. He is also a trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a member of the National Petroleum Council.

Tillerson is a member of the Business Roundtable, the Business Council, an honorary trustee of the Business Council for International Understanding and is also a member of the Emergency Committee for American Trade. He joined the National Academy of Engineering in 2013.

Rex Tillerson Source: SMU Cox School of Business