After graduation Mr. Randall began his career with Standard Oil of Indiana (Amoco) as an engineer. He worked for Amoco for fourteen years serving in various engineering operations and management positions where he was responsible for numerous onshore and offshore energy projects throughout the United States. His last position was Manager of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) for the exploration & production sector (E&P) where he led a multi-billion dollar program for Amoco for seven years.
In 1989 he resigned from Amoco to start his own firm Randall & Dewey, Inc. (R&D) where he was President and CEO for 15 years. R&D was formed to provide the energy industry with new approaches and methods to M&A transactions. The advisory firm is recognized as having pioneered the M&A business as it is now conducted worldwide for the upstream E&P industry. Prior to being acquired in 2005 by the New York investment bank, Jefferies & Company, R&D had grown to include over 100 engineers, geoscientists, and finance professionals with offices in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Africa. Its services over time expanded beyond M&A to include strategic consulting, asset management, and corporate finance. The firm’s international client base included major oil companies, national oil companies, utilities, as well as public and private independent energy companies. R&D initiated and completed hundreds of transactions worldwide worth billions of dollars for its clients. In 2001 Mr. Randall co-founded the Caymus Energy Fund, a public equity investment fund where he is still involved as a part owner, investor, and director.
Mr. Randall currently continues his M&A career at Jefferies. In 2009 he initiated and was the lead advisor on the $41 billion merger between ExxonMobil and XTO Energy. To-date this merger is the largest U.S. exploration and production transaction in history.
Mr. Randall serves on the Boards of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the Sam Houston Council Boy Scouts of America, and Morning Star Partners. He is a former member of the board of directors of Esenjay Exploration (NASDAQ) and XTO Energy (NYSE). He serves The University of Texas (UT) as a member of the Chancellor’s Executive Council, the Cockrell School of Engineering Advisory Board, the UT Austin Development Board, and is a founding member of the UT Energy Institute Advisory Board where he currently serves as Chairman. In the past he has served as the Chairman of the UT Engineering Advisory Board and the Chairman of the UT Petroleum Engineering Visiting Committee. He has also served on two dean search committees at UT Austin as well as the current search committee for a new president at UT Austin. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for the Arts and Community Enrichment.
Mr. Randall has received the UT Distinguished Engineering Graduate Award and has been elected to the UT Academy of Distinguished Alumni Department of Civil Engineering. He is a recipient of the Boy Scouts of America Silver Beaver Award and was honored by M.D. Anderson Cancer Center as one of 60 individuals who “Helped Make Cancer History” during its first 60 years of existence. In 2011 Oil & Gas Investor Magazine awarded Mr. Randall its Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his pioneering contributions to the oil and gas M&A industry.
Mr. Randall is engaged in many philanthropic activities, the majority of which are centered on the Boy Scouts of America, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and The University of Texas at Austin. His endowments include numerous student scholarships, support for M.D. Anderson innovative cancer research, The University of Texas System Chancellor, and the Chair for the Dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering at UT Austin.