Distinguished Alumni Honorees

When Joe M. Parsley retired after more than 30 years in the oil and gas industry, he left behind a legacy of successful, independent Texas oil companies.

Alex M. Cranberg, Houston, Texas, was appointed to a six-year term on The University of Texas System Board of Regents by Governor Rick Perry in February 2011.

Jack Smyth Josey was born in Beaumont, Texas on July 11, 1916. Attending public schools in Houston and graduating from San Jacinto High School in 1934, Josey entered The University of Texas at Austin where he obtained a bachelor of science in petroleum engineering in 1939. Josey was president (grand master) of Kappa Sigma, a Goodfellow, Outstanding Student, and foreman (president) of the Texas Cowboys.

Summer internships, college courses and professors, and the bonds she built with her classmates convinced Sue Park of her place in the global energy industry. Upon earning her bachelor of science degree studying petroleum engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, Sue moved back to her hometown of Houston, Texas to start her professional career with Chevron.

John Weinzierl, PE co-founded Memorial Resource Development LLC, an oil and gas production company, in 2011 and currently serves as the CEO of its successor company, MRD Holdco LLC. Since the company’s formation, John led the public listing and of two subsidiary companies, Memorial Resource Development Corp. and Memorial Production Partners LP, and was CEO of an organization that had over 500 employees, produced over 1 billion cubic feet equivalent of gas per day, and operated in six states.

Don L. Sparks currently serves as chairman of the board of Discovery Operating, Inc., a small, independent oil company based in Midland, Texas, that he co-founded in 1973.

Margaretha "Peggy" C.M. Rijken leads Chevron's Productivity Enhancement Team, which focuses on research, development and consulting in the areas of formation damage, geomechanical modeling and hydraulic fracturing. Rijken received the Chevron Reservoir Management Excellence Award in 2010 and 2015 and co-holds a patent in non-aqueous stimulation.

C. Ronald "Ronny" Platt is a highly respected member of the petroleum industry and one of the leading petroleum engineering experts in regulatory hearings and litigation. He has served as an expert witness in more than 150 lawsuits and 500 administrative hearings and was the governor's appointee to the State of Texas Membership on the Energy Resources Committee of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission for 12 years.

Fred Kerwin Fox's technological contributions to the field of petroleum engineering continue to influence industry operations today.

Robert S. (Bob) Schechter was raised in Rosenberg, Texas, where his parents operated a small clothing store. Inspired by his high school chemistry teacher Mr. Althouse, Schechter decided to become a chemical engineer, graduating from Texas A & M University in 1950 with a BSChE, before beginning his doctoral program at the University of Minnesota. With the onset of the Korean War, Schechter was called into the U.S. Army’s Chemical Corps. While stationed in Anniston, Alabama, he met and married his beloved Mary Ethel Schechter. Upon his discharge as First Lieutenant, they returned to Minnesota where he completed his doctoral program in 1956.