John B. Hess: Hess Corp CEO

Hess Corporation is an exploration and production company that develops, produces, purchases, transports and sells crude oil and natural gas globally. While not in the size of Exxon Mobil it is still a huge company by any measure ranked by Fortune in the top 100 of the 500 largest companies in the world.

The company was started by an enterprising young man, Leon Hess the father of John B. Hess, who at age 19 formed Hess Incorporated in 1933. He purchased a 1926 second-hand 615 gallon oil delivery truck and started residential delivery, seven days a week in Ashbury Park, New Jersey which was near his home.

A shift by large power companies from coal to oil provided an opportunity for Hess to expand in 1937. He purchased 5 more trucks and expanded his business to include post-refinery residual fuel oil. With business continuing to grow the company purchased it first terminal site in Perth Amboy, New Jersey I in 1938. This had facilities to unload barges and three years later facilities to unload tankers were also added.

John B. Hess was born in April 5, 1954. John earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard College in 1975 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1977. This Harvard alumnus would later head Hess Corporation.

A defining moment in the company’s history was its merger with Amerada in the mid-1960s. There was controversy surrounding the deal but it eventually pushed through. The result was a $2.4 billion merger between Amerada a purely production company with Hess a refinery and marketer operation.  The company became known as Amerada Hess.

John became the chairman and CEO of Hess Corporation in 1995.

Amerada Hess continued to grow and in 2001 purchased Triton Energy Limited. Subsequent low energy prices caused the firm to loss profit then began to earn profits again starting 2003.  From Amerada Hess Corp. the firm changed its name to Hess Corp. in May 2006.

The firm of late has been selling assets including its gasoline station network becoming a purely exploration and production company.  This strategic transformation was led by John who stepped down as chairman in May 2013 but retained his CEO position.