As CEO of Energy Transfer, Kelcy Warren wants to remind the world that oil and natural gas have a lot to offer beyond heating buildings and powering vehicles.
A Commercial That Highlights Petrochemical Versatility
Not many oil and gas companies run advertisements that feature an expecting couple rushing to the hospital to find an empty and darkened waiting room. However, Warren’s company, Energy Transfer, does just that in its spot entitled “Special Delivery.” The surprised parents-to-be look about them but see no furniture, no lights and no medical supplies. “This is what a hospital would look like,” the narrator intones, “without oil and natural gas.”
The commercial goes on to highlight all of the items that are made with oil and natural gas. They reappear as the couple proceeds to the delivery room. Many of these items are plastic, which is created by processing oil and natural gas into petrochemicals. A hospital without plastics would lack disposable gloves, syringes, masks, IV tubes, sterile packaging and blood bags.
Then there are petrochemical-dependent drugs. Petrochemicals are used in 99 percent of pharmaceutical compounds and feedstocks. Everyday items would be missing from the hospital as well. Without oil and gas, there wouldn’t be eyeglasses, phones, furniture, bedding and flooring, just to mention a few necessities.
Companies such as the one that Kelcy Warren heads up are not only critical to fueling ambulances and keeping hospitals heated. They also are key to the manufacture of almost everything we find within a hospital’s walls.
The Son of an Oil Worker Reaches for the Top
Kelcy Warren isn’t the first member of his family to work for a gas and oil company, but he’s the first to scale the executive heights. His father worked as a ditchdigger and gauger for Sun Oil in Warren’s home town, an East Texas community called Gladewater. Eventually, Dad worked his way into a job as a field clerk. Warren is proud of all his father accomplished with only a high school education.
The entire Warren family was active in the Gladewater community. His father was president of the school board, and his mother presided over the PTA. The family participated in all that’s best about a small town, being active in their Baptist church and in the Boy Scouts. Mom was a den leader and Dad later became a scoutmaster.
Though they never went past high school, the Warren parents insisted that their sons go to college. Kelcy’s older brother was the first in the family to do so. Kelcy Warren himself attended the University of Texas in Arlington and earned a degree in civil engineering. His first job was with Loan Star Gas Company as a pipeline engineer.
Warren soon moved into the commercial aspect of energy development with a company called Endevco. Later he and a partner acquired Endevco and changed the name to Cornerstone Natural Gas.A few years after that, they sold Cornerstone, and Warren co-founded Energy Transfer, which he serves today as CEO.
Success as a Journey
Although some might say that Kelcy Warren successfully sits at the top of his industry, Warren himself considers success to be something he will continue to strive for but never fully achieve. “Success,” he says, “is not having any regrets.” He sees success as “a pinnacle I have yet to climb.”
In 2016 Warren received the Horatio Alger Award as recognition for his rise in his field. He has also established an endowment at UT Arlington, and he hosts a yearly fundraiser for children’s charities in Texas. In addition, Warren has been the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
Learn more about Kelcy Warren here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6amQzo-TUKU
