Kelcy Warren is an American businessman and CEO of Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), which builds and operates pipelines for oil, gas, and other energy resources. The company has increased its revenue by $35 billion since 2004.
His History
Warren was born in Missouri and moved to Oklahoma when he was in high school. He is the son of a sharecropper and a woman who was part Cherokee Indian. Warren says his first job at age 12 was cleaning chicken houses for two cents an hour. He never looked back and soon earned $1.50 an hour working for his boss’s uncle’s home plant in Oklahoma. He became the owner at 17, then a millionaire at 24.
Kelcy Warren says that his life changed at around 22 when he contracted polio during a bad snowstorm after making several trips to Florida on his father’s oil rig and was paralyzed for three years. His weight dropped from 200 pounds to 130 pounds, and he used a wheelchair. He could walk with the help of braces and crutches but could not continue working as an oil driller.
Political & Community Involvement
During the seventies, Warren was an investigator for Congressman Morris Udall’s Judiciary Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections, investigating the Watergate scandal. He compared working for Udall to “Working for God.”
Warren actively contributed to Morris Udall’s campaigns, including a loan for $6 million in 1982. The relationship turned sour with the election of President Ronald Reagan. Kelcy Warren believed Bill Clinton would be better for business interests than President Reagan, raising over $100,000 for his campaign and serving on the Democratic National Finance Committee in 1992. One year later, as Clinton took office, Warren said of George W.
Kelcy Warren has been married three times. His first wife, Susan Warren, worked for Goldman Sachs and was involved in Warren’s big success. She was later diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and died at age 50. His second wife, Diane Warren, is an attorney; she had two children from a previous marriage: Trey Warren and Jordan Warren. He has four children with his third wife, Janice Warren: Kelcy III (K3), Mason, Walker, and Sydney.
Kelcy lives in Dallas and is a member of the board of Texas Commerce Bank. His brother, Robert Warren, is a former Republican U.S. Representative from Oklahoma who was defeated in 1999 by Tom Coburn. Forbes says he is the 7th-richest person in Texas and the 908th-richest person worldwide. He has spent over $100 million on political donations, including to Republican candidates and PACs, and $10 million on a 19th-century seaside mansion in Malibu, California, which serves as the home base for his business operations. Refer to this article on CrunchBase, for related information.
Learn more about Warren on https://www.utsystem.edu/board-of-regents/current-regents/kelcy-l-warren