Meet Kelcy Warren: The CEO Behind Energy Transfer

By David Thompson

May 09, 2023 12:32 PM EDT

Meet Kelcy Warren: The CEO Behind Energy Transfer(Meet Kelcy Warren: The CEO Behind Energy Transfer) (Credit: Getty Image)

Energy Transfer, a large and diversified energy company headquartered in North America, oversees nearly 120,000 miles of pipeline to get petroleum products to the consumers who need them. But who needs petroleum products, you might ask? 

The answer is anyone who has ever required the services of a hospital, clinic, or urgent care facility. Petrochemicals are necessary ingredients in many of the lifesaving medical equipment and pharmaceuticals Americans use daily. And without them, life would be grim, indeed. Here's what you need to know about Energy Transfer and its Chairman, Kelcy Warren

What Is Energy Transfer? 

Energy Transfer is the company co-founded by Warren in 1996. Its overall purpose is to find and deliver petroleum products such as natural gas and crude oil to nations around the world. These petroleum products, and others like them, are what makes electricity possible. They are what allows you to charge your cell phone or watch your favorite TV program each night. They bring hot water into your home, and they do it in a much cleaner and healthier way than coal ever did. In fact, natural gas has actually helped America lower its greenhouse gas emissions over the past few decades, and much of it is piped to our power plants through underground lines that were built and are maintained by Energy Transfer. 

Who Is Kelcy Warren? 

Warren is not only the co-founder of Energy Transfer, he's also the current Executive Chairman of the Board. Today, the company he helped to create in 1996 moves approximately 30 percent of the nation's natural gas and oil. He's a self-made billionaire who still resides in Texas, the state where he grew up in a modest home with a loving family. 

Early Days in the Warren Household

Kelcy Warren was not born into money. In fact, he hails from a blue-collar household, where his father worked in the oilfields and his mother worked as a clerk in a local department store. The Warrens didn't have a lot of money, but they had plenty of love and support for one another. And to this day, Warren gives ample credit to those early years with doting parents for helping him become the success he is today. 

A childhood packed brimful with boy scout meetings and church activities feature prominently in Warren's memories, and he remembers being taught, early on, about the importance of education and earning your own way. He took these values with him as he went off to college and earned his degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. From there, it was a slow but steady climb to where he is today, residing over his own corporation and helping get the nation's petroleum where it needs to go. 

Kelcy Warren Today

Today, Warren is determined to give back to the communities that helped foster his success. He has established an endowment at the University of Texas at Arlington that honors a top mentor. He donated significant funds to the Klyde Warren Urban Park in Dallas and has hosted fundraisers for Cherokee Crossroads, Inc. To date, he has received the Gas Processors Suppliers Association's Hanlon Award, the Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and the Horatio Alger Award

See more about Kelcy Warren here.

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