Robert B. Rowling (born 1953) is an American
billionaire
A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The ...
businessman, and the Founder of
, the holding company of
Omni Hotels
Omni Hotels & Resorts is an American privately held, international luxury hotel company based in Dallas, Texas. The company was founded in 1958 as Dunfey Hotels, and operates 50 properties in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, totaling over ...
.
Early life
A native of
Corpus Christi, Texas, Rowling has an undergraduate degree from the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
and a doctorate in jurisprudence from
Southern Methodist University
, mottoeng = " The truth will make you free"
, established =
, type = Private research university
, accreditation = SACS
, academic_affiliations =
, religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church
, president = R. Gerald Turner
, pr ...
.
Career
In 1972, Rowling began working for
Tana Oil and Gas Tana may refer to:
Places
Africa
* Lake Tana, a lake in Ethiopia (and a source of the Nile River)
* Tana Qirqos, an island in the eastern part of Lake Tana in Ethiopia, near the mouth of the Gumara River
* Tana River County, a county of Coast Pro ...
, which was owned by his father,
Reese Rowling
Reese McIntosh Rowling (1928–2001) was an American businessman and geologist, who co-founded Tana Oil and Gas Corporation with William E Colson in Corpus Christi, Texas, which was eventually taken over by Texaco.
He was born in 1928 in Waycros ...
, and William E Colson.
In 1989
Texaco
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company until i ...
acquired Tana for $476 million, thereby providing money that was used to form TRT Holdings. Five years later, TRT Holdings sold Corpus Christi National Bank to
NationsBank
NationsBank was one of the largest banking corporations in the United States, based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company named NationsBank was formed through the merger of several other banks in 1991, and prior to that had been through mul ...
for $131 million. TRT Holdings would later purchase Omni Hotels for $500 million and
Gold's Gym
Gold's Gym International, Inc. is an American chain of international co-ed fitness centers (commonly referred to as gyms) originally started by Joe Gold in Venice Beach, California. Each gym offers a variety of cardio and strength training eq ...
for $180 million. In August 2010, Rowling made the winning bid to acquire the bankrupt
Amelia Island Plantation Resort for $67.1 million. In July 2013, Rowling purchased six resorts from KSL Resorts including The Homestead 1766 in Hot Springs, Virginia.
Rowling served as a regent to the
University of Texas System
The University of Texas System (UT System) is an American government entity of the state of Texas that includes 13 higher educational institutions throughout the state including eight universities and five independent health institutions. The UT& ...
until February 2009 when he resigned over a controversy regarding bonuses paid to the UTIMCO investment staff. Governor
Rick Perry
James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 and as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. Perry also ran unsuccessfully for the Republi ...
and Texas state senators had sought to go back on compensation agreements with the staff. Unwilling to break the contracts and disgusted by their grandstanding, Rowling quit during a Texas Senate Finance Committee meeting and followed it up a day later with a formal letter of resignation
As of May 2017, he is worth US$6.7 billion.
He is the 82nd richest person in the United States.
Political activities
He is a conservative
Republican and a major donor to the party. He is also one of four billionaire backers of the conservative political action group
American Crossroads. According to an article published in ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'', four
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
Gold's Gym franchises split off from the brand after Rowling made a $2 million donation to Karl Rove's
American Crossroads PAC, sparking protest from gay rights advocates. He gave more than $2 million as a private donation completely independent from his company, TRT Holdings. TRT Holdings has also given an additional $2.5 million from the company treasury this election cycle, according to public filings. He commented to Fox News, explaining that his donation to American Crossroads had nothing to do with social policies that could spark crossfire. "I've never heard one discussion of a social issue. This is all about fiscal sanity."
In April 2020, Governor
Greg Abbott
Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the 48th governor of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 50th attorney general of Texas from 2002 ...
named Rowling to the Strike Force to Open Texas – a group "tasked with finding safe and effective ways to slowly reopen the state" amid the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
.
Personal life
He is married to Terry Hennersdorf Rowling, they have two children, and live in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...
.
They met when they were both studying for bachelor's degrees in business at the University of Texas at Austin.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowling, Robert
1953 births
Living people
University of Texas at Austin alumni
Southern Methodist University alumni
People from Dallas
American financiers
American billionaires
Texas Republicans