Jay Barton Simmons

Education History:

Lamar University Bachelors of Business Administration

Lamar University Masters of Business Administration

Connection to Lamar: Lamar University Alumnus

Bart Simmons graduated magna cum laude while lettering three years in football at Lamar. He served as President of the Student Government Association and was a member of the highly regarded College of Business sponsored Students for Free Enterprise.

He has maintained an active interest in Lamar University and currently serves on the Board of Advisors to the College of Business and on the Lamar University Foundation Board.

He is married to Martye Sculley Simmons (B.B.A. in accounting from LU in 1978). They donated funds to create and name the Vernon Glass Field of Champions Practice Field and the John Payton Academic Success Center. They created the Patricia and George Sculley Scholarship in Business and the Martye and Bart Simmons Endowment in Business.

Honors and Awards: Lamar University honored Mr. Simmons with the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2008. The Simmons are members of the prestigious Lamar University Spindletop Society.

Affiliations: Simmons created a natural gas marketing company in 1985. This company, owned by Ross Perot and organized by Simmons, eventually became Bridge Gas Marketing Company. Simmons made Bridge into one of the premier natural gas marketing companies during the 1980s. In 1992, he resigned as president to pursue his dream of starting and owning a company.

Today his privately held company “Tristar” operates oil and gas production, provides well head compression services, natural gas marketing services and electricity service to over 20,000 residential & commercial customers.

Mr. Simmons is a director & co-owner with his wife Martye of BESS Investments LP. The privately held investment company, formed in 2003, owns and operates ranching operations in Texas, real estate properties in Dallas and other energy and agricultural portfolio investments. Mr. Simmons is a member of the Texas & Southwest Cattle Ranchers Association. Mr. Simmons has served on the Board of Directors of the North Texas Oil and Gas Association. Mr. Simmons is a member of the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association. In addition, he served as the Chairperson of the Board of Stewards of Lovers Lane United Methodist Church and was the recipient of the church’s Heritage Award in 2010. Mr. Simmons served on the Board of Directors of the Wesley Rankin Center.

Known For: In 2010, the Tristar Companies sold their North Dakota Bakken Field production & lease rights to a publically traded Canadian Company. Today, the Tristar Companies have operations in three states and annual sales of more than $120 million/yr. Texas Power Company, the Simray Energy Company, Tristar Compression Company, Mid-States Energy Company, and Tristar Producer Services Company are all part of the Tristar family of companies. In August, Tristar agreed to sell the electricity business to one of the largest competitive energy providers in the US. Simmons’ popularity in the business world has transcended into the social media world. He has over 3,600 followers around the world on Twitter that enjoy his daily review, analysis, and comments on business, agriculture, politics, and social issues.