Paul L. Foster was born in El Paso, Texas USA, and is a businessman, best known for being the chairman of the board of Western Refining, an oil refiner and marketer which is a part of the Fortune 200 and the Global 2000. All of his endeavors have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Paul Foster? As of mid-2017, sources estimate a net worth that is at $1.5 billion, mostly earned through successful endeavors in the oil industry. His company, Western Refining is one of the largest independent oil refinery companies in the US which is publicly traded. As he continues his career, it is expected that his wealth will also continue to increase.
Paul Foster Net Worth $1.5 billion
Paul started work by doing a lot of manual labor tasks, such as welding pipes, cleaning tanks and digging ditches as his start in the oil industry. This motivated him to get an education. He subsequently attended Baylor University, studying and accounting major. He graduated in 1979 and would then continue to work in the oil industry, handling the books for various small oil refineries, and this started building his net worth, which continued for a number of years
In 1997, he founded Western Refining and would slowly grow the company. It helped his net worth increase immensely, as by 2006 the oil company had become the fourth largest publicly traded independent in the US. Western Refining now operates two plants that processes around 150,000 barrels of oil per day. The company also owns 200 filling stations. In 2015, the company acquired rival refiner Northern Tier Energy.
Foster started being featured in publications, and was also entered onto the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans. In 2007, he was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to the Board of Regents of the University of Texas; he was elected as Vice Chairman the following year and would continue to get re-elected In 2012, he was elected as the Chairman of the Board of Regents, and continues to serve in that capacity. Other positions he’s held with the board include being the chair of the Audit, Compliance, and Management Review Committee, and was also the chair of the Finance and Planning Committee. He also served as part of Baylor University’s school advisory board from 2008 to 2010.
Aside from his oil business, Paul is also a part owner of Mountain Star Sports, which owns the baseball team, the El Paso Chihuahuas.
For his personal life, it is known that Paul has been married to Alejandra de la Vega since 2008. He has done a lot of philanthropic work too; in 2006, he donated $3 million to build the Paul L.
Foster Success Center in Baylor University. The following year he donated $50 million to help create the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, part of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. In 2013, he made another donation to Baylor to fund the Paul L. Foster Campus of Business and Innovation, spanning 275,000 square feet. He’s also donated at least $1 million to the Freedom Partners Action Fund.
