About IPAA » Our History

The Independent Petroleum Association of America: 75 years of progress and service to the oil and natural gas producing industry.

IPAA Chief Executives 1929-Present
	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
	18.	Robert E. Mead	Texas	1969-1971
	17.	Harold M. McClure, Jr.	Michigan
	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

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