Kenneth A. Hersh

Kenneth A. Hersh is chairman of his family investment office, HFI Capital Management, which invests across the economy with an emphasis on the industrial, energy, financial, real estate and technology sectors.

From 2016 to 2025, he served as President and CEO of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, a Dallas-based non-partisan institution which houses the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum and the George W. Bush Institute. Ken led a team executing the Bush Center’s mission to promote policy solutions and public engagement that ensure opportunity for all, strengthen democracy, and advance free societies.

Under his leadership, the Bush Center implemented its long-term strategic plan, enhanced the influence and reach of the Bush Institute, expanded its leadership and public programming, assumed operations of the Bush Museum from the National Archives, and completed a successful nationwide $335 million capital campaign to solidify the financial foundation of the Bush Center. During his tenure, the endowment increased 7-fold to exceed $400 million and will ensure that the work endures. He remains an active member of the Bush Center’s Board of Directors. In 2025, he received D CEO magazine’s highest honor, its Nonprofit & Corporate Citizenship Legacy Award for his civic leadership.

He made his mark in the private sector dating back to 1988 as the Co-Founder and CEO of NGP Energy Capital Management, one of the nation’s largest natural resources private equity investment firms, managing over $20.0 billion of cumulative committed capital since inception. Until 2016, Ken served as NGP’s Chief Executive Officer. NGP is recognized as the pioneer of energy private equity, developing a business methodology to invest in the energy field that, today, has become the standard and replicated by dozens of firms worldwide.

From 1988 through year-end 2015, under his leadership, NGP invested over $12 billion and achieved a 27-year annual IRR of 30%, making it one of the nation’s leading investment firms.

In 2024, he was inducted into the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans honoring his life of perseverance and achievement. In 2023, he received the Ernest C. Arbuckle Award, the highest honor presented by Stanford’s Graduate School of Business to recognize excellence in management leadership. Also in 2023, the Oil and Gas Investor magazine inducted Ken into its Hart Energy Hall of Fame as one of the top 50 “pioneering men and women who have shaped energy over the last half century.” In 2020, he received the L. Frank Pitts Energy Leadership Award presented by the SMU Cox School of Business for demonstrating outstanding leadership and innovation in the field of energy. In 2017, he received the Oil & Gas Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2014, he was recognized as Master Entrepreneur of the Year for the Southwest Region by Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year program.

Ken is also involved in the nonprofit arena personally and through the efforts of the Hersh Foundation. He sits on the boards of the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation, the Texas Rangers Baseball Club, the Dallas Citizens Council, the Southwestern Medical Foundation, and the Baylor Scott & White Dallas Foundation. In addition, Ken serves on the Executive Committee of the Hoover Institution’s Board of Overseers and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He also sits on the Dean’s Advisory Council of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. In 2023, he became the inaugural Distinguished Executive in Residence at SMU’s Cox School of Business.

From 1998 through 2015, he served on the board of St. Mark’s School of Texas, where he held numerous positions including President from 2010 through 2012. In 2015, Ken received the St. Mark’s School of Texas Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 2023, he was recognized with the World Affairs Council’s H. Neil Mallon Award to recognize his contribution to expanding the region’s global presence. In 2019, he received the Henry Cohn Humanitarian Award, presented by the Anti-Defamation League for work in advancing human rights, dignity, and opportunity.

In 2023, he released his book, The Fastest Tortoise: Winning in Industries I Knew Nothing About, which chronicles his life’s lessons evolving from his many business and personal experiences. He is a frequent writer and speaker on topics ranging from democratic values, politics, economics and geopolitics to the energy industry and financial markets.

Prior to co-founding NGP, Ken was employed by Morgan Stanley & Co. where he was a member of the firm’s energy group specializing in oil and gas financing and merger and acquisition transactions.

Ken was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. After St. Mark’s, he graduated Princeton University, magna cum laude, with a degree in Politics in 1985. In 1989, he earned his M.B.A. from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, graduating as an Arjay Miller Scholar.