IPAA Chief Executives 1929-Present |
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| 38. | Bruce Vincent | Texas | 2009-2011 | ||
| 37. | Buddy Kleemeier | Oklahoma | 2007-2009 | ||
| 36. | Michael C. Linn | Pennsylvania | 2005-2007 | ||
| 35. | John B. Walker | Texas | 2003-2005 | ||
| 34. | Diemer True | Wyoming | 2001-2003 | ||
| 33. | Jerry D. Jordan | Ohio | 1999-2001 | ||
| 32. | George M. Yates | New Mexico | 1997-1999 | ||
| 31. | Lew O. Ward | Oklahoma | 1995-1997 | ||
| 30. | George A. Alcorn | Texas | 1993-1995 | ||
| 29. | Eugene L. Ames, Jr. | Texas | 1991-1993 | ||
| 28. | C. Paul Hilliard | Louisiana | 1989-1991 | ||
| 27. | Danny H. Conklin | Texas | 1987-1989 | ||
| 26. | Raymond H. Hefner, Jr. | Oklahoma | 1985-1987 | ||
| 25. | Jon Rex Jones | Texas | 1983-1985 | ||
| 24. | Kye Trout, Jr. | North Dakota | 1981-1983 | ||
| 23. | T. P. McAdams, Jr. | Oklahoma | 1979-1981 | ||
| 22. | Jack M. Allen | Texas | 1977-1979 | ||
| 21. | A. V. Jones, Jr. | Texas | 1975-1977 | ||
| 20. | C. John Miller | Michigan | 1973-1975 | ||
| 19. | Tom B. Medders, Jr. | Texas | 1971-1973 | ||
| 18. | Robert E. Mead | Texas | 1969-1971 | ||
| 17. | Harold M. McClure, Jr. | Michigan | 1967-1969 | ||
| 16. | F. Allen Calvert, Jr. | Oklahoma | 1965-1967 | ||
| 15. | H. A. “Dave” True | Wyoming | 1963-1965 | ||
| 14. | Harold Decker | Texas | 1962-1963 | ||
| 13. | Alvin C. Hope | Texas | 1960-1961 | ||
| 12. | Gordon Simpson | Texas | 1958-1959 | ||
| 11. | Robert L. Wood | Texas | 1956-1957 | ||
| 10. | W. M. Vaughey | Mississippi | 1954-1955 | ||
| 9. | Charlton Lyons | Louisiana | 1951-1953 | ||
| 8. | J. Ed Warren | Texas | 1949-1951 | ||
| 7. | Fred W. Shield | Texas | 1948-1949 | ||
| 6. | Merle Becker | Missouri | 1947-1948 | ||
| 5. | B. A. Hardey | Louisiana | 1945-1947 | ||
| 4. | Ralph T. Zook | Pennsylvania | 1943-1945 | ||
| 3. | Frank Buttram | Oklahoma | 1939-1943 | ||
| 2. | Charles F. Roeser | Texas | 1935-1939 | ||
| 1. | Wirt Franklin | Oklahoma | 1929-1935 | ||
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The Independent Petroleum Association of America:
75 years of progress and service to the oil and natural gas producing industry.
Through boom and bust, IPAA has been on the front lines in support of America’s independent oil and natural gas producers. Founded in the summer of 1929 by a small group of determined independents, IPAA has grown to an organization of many thousands today. For more than 75 years, IPAA’s volunteer leaders have skillfully married business savvy with political skills to keep the independent oil and natural gas industry alive and thriving.
The Formative Years
Independent producers were in bad shape in 1929 and facing even more troubled times ahead. The government was encouraging oil imports. American oil reserves were plentiful, yet suspicion prevailed among federal policy makers that the United States was soon to run out of petroleum.
In a fiery address during President Herbert Hoover’s historic Oil Conservation Conference in Colorado Springs in June 1929, Wirt Franklin of Ardmore, Oklahoma, told conferees that independents were fearful that in the name of conservation, a compact may be initiated vesting absolute authority in a commission which could restrict domestic production to any extent it might desire, and allow domestic demand to be filled by the importation of foreign oil. “If this condition should be brought about,” roared Franklin, “it would mean the annihilation and destruction of the small producer of crude oil.”
Wirt Franklin
