John Billingsley

John Billingsley has lived the life of a successful entrepreneur, founding more than seventy companies over a long and storied career. Raised on a West Texas farm, he began breeding and selling livestock in grade school. After college, he launched an accounting firm that became one of Texas’s largest independently owned firms before being purchased by a national firm. Next, John bought a bank in Midland, Texas. Over six years, he grew deposits from less than $10 million to more than $150 million. Commercial real estate development followed along with ventures in sulfur recovery, oil and gas, manufacturing (including modular buildings and bed, bath, and home products), residential subdivision construction, and retail and office space leasing and finish-out—as well as, of course, varied farm and ranch operations.

John’s greatest business success came after his “retirement,” when he conceived a new model for developing wind energy farms in West Texas. His company grew into one of America’s largest privately owned developers of wind energy before being sold to Canada’s leading energy business—and after returning billions of dollars in taxes and royalties to many small communities.

Ever the visionary, John vigorously pursues new frontiers, seeking innovations in the fields of blockchain, artificial intelligence, and renewable energy. He believes deeply that merging these disruptive technologies will build a path to a successful energy transition and a better future for generations to come.