John Barnett Hess (born April 5, 1954)"Profile: John Hess"

NNDB The Notable Names Database (NNDB) is an online database of biographical details of over 40,000 people. Soylent Communications, a sole proprietorship that also hosted the later defunct Rotten.com, describes NNDB as an "intelligence aggregator" ...

is the CEO of

Hess Corporation Hess Corporation (formerly Amerada Hess Corporation) is an American global independent energy company involved in the oil exploration, exploration and production of Petroleum, crude oil and natural gas. It was formed by the merger of Hess Oil and ...

Early life and education

Hess was born in 1954 to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family, the son of Norma and Leon Hess. His father was the founder of the Hess Oil and Chemical, which later became the Amerada Hess Corporation and is now known as the

. His maternal grandfather was

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

attorney general David T. Wilentz, who prosecuted Bruno Richard Hauptmann in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping case. He has two sisters: Marlene Hess and former Pennsylvania State Senator Constance H. Williams.New York Times: "Leon Hess, Who Built a Major Oil Company and Owned the Jets, Is Dead at 85" By GERALD ESKENAZI
May 08, 1999 He earned his undergraduate degree from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in 1975 and his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

in 1977. He married Susan Elizabeth Kessler in 1984.

Career

Hess became chairman and CEO of

in 1995. He stepped down as chairman in May 2013, retaining his position as CEO. In September 2024, the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

conditioned approval of the company’s $53 billion acquisition by

Chevron Corporation Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation predominantly specializing in oil and gas. The second-largest direct descendant of Standard Oil, and originally known as the Standard Oil Company of California (shortened t ...

on Hess being prohibited from serving on the company's board due to his past communications with

OPEC The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) is an organization enabling the co-operation of leading oil-producing and oil-dependent countries in order to collectively influence the global oil market and maximize Profit (eco ...

References

Living people 1954 births People from Monmouth County, New Jersey American people of Latvian-Jewish descent American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Harvard Business School alumni Hess family 20th-century American businesspeople Harvard College alumni {{US-business-bio-1950s-stub