Ken Hersh Biography

Kenneth A. Hersh, 54, is President and Chief Executive Officer of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, a Dallas-based non-partisan institution which houses the George W. Bush Library and Museum and the George W. Bush Institute. The Bush Center’s mission is to engage communities in the U.S. and around the world by developing leaders, advancing policy, and taking action to solve today’s most pressing challenges. Under his leadership and that of Executive Director, Holly Kuzmich, the Institute focuses its efforts on initiatives impacting economic growth, education reform, human freedom, global health, military service, and women’s empowerment.

He also serves as Co-Founder and Advisory Partner of NGP Energy Capital Management where he assists with the strategic direction of the firm. NGP is a premier private equity investment franchise in the natural resources industry managing over $15.8 billion of cumulative committed capital since inception in 1988. Through 2015, Mr. Hersh served as NGP’s Chief Executive Officer. From 1988 through 2015, under his leadership, NGP invested over $10 billion and achieved a 28-year gross IRR of 30% (net IRR of 19%), making it one of the nation’s leading investment firms during that period.

Mr. Hersh currently serves as a Senior Advisor and the Deputy Chief Investment Officer for The Carlyle Group’s natural resources division and sits on the Board of the Texas Rangers Baseball Club. In addition, Mr. Hersh serves on the Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Council of the American Enterprise Institute, the Dallas Citizens Council, and the World Economic Forum where he has been a featured speaker at its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. He also sits on the Dean’s Council of the Harvard Kennedy School. Mr. Hersh served on the Advisory Council of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business from 2009 through 2015. In 2014, he was recognized as Master Entrepreneur of the Year for the Southwest Region by Ernst & Young during its Entrepreneur of the Year program.

Mr. Hersh has also been very involved in the nonprofit arena both nationally and locally on a personal basis and through the efforts of The Hersh Foundation, his family’s private foundation. He serves on the boards of the Communities Foundation of Texas, Baylor Health Care System Foundation, and the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues. From 1998 through 2015, Mr. Hersh served on the board of St. Mark’s School of Texas, where he held numerous positions including President from 2010 through 2012. In 2015, Mr. Hersh received the St. Mark’s School of Texas Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Prior to co-founding NGP, Mr. Hersh 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.

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

Mr. Hersh and his wife, Julie reside in Dallas, Texas.

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