NEAL EDWIN SCHMALE ’68

PE Hall of Fame Class of 2024

Neal Edwin Schmale has made varied contributions to the industry as an oil company and utility holding company executive. He has played a steady, influential and generous role at Mines and in civic life. 

Schmale graduated from Mines in 1968 with a professional degree in petroleum engineering and earned a law degree from Loyola University in 1974. He also has a LLM, cum laude, from the University of San Diego law school. He is a member of the California Bar. 

His career began as a drilling engineer with Unocal. After earning his law degree, he ultimately became president of Unocal’s Petroleum Products and Chemicals Division and later Unocal’s CFO. He joined Sempra Energy in 1998 as executive vice-president and CFO and later became president and COO. Sempra was an industry leader in renewable energy. This included construction of renewable generation facilities and natural gas pipelines in the U.S. and Mexico. As COO of Sempra, he was responsible for the operations of Sempra’s regulated and unregulated subsidiaries with over 18,000 employees in the U.S. and several foreign countries. 

Schmale served on the Mines Foundation Board of Governors and earned the Distinguished Achievement Medal. He established and regularly contributes to the Schmale BEMS Scholarship Fund. 

Contributions to Mines & Awards

  • Mines Reunion Giving Program and Petroleum Engineering visiting Committee

Industry Boards 

  • Unocal, served on Management Committee 
  • Sempra 
  • WD40 Company, served as non-executive Chairman of the Board, Chairman of the Audit 
  • Committee and on Finance Committee 
  • Murphy Oil Company, served on Audit and Finance Committee and as Chairman of 
  • Compensation Committee 

Contributions to Society 

  • Adjunct instructor of Finance and International Business, University of San Diego  
  • Various non-profit boards and committees including Los Angeles Educational Partnership, SanDiego Symphony and Business School Advisory Committee at the University of San Diego 
  • Naming Donors for Schmale Family Senior Residence in Ramona, CA