ROBERT E. MCKEE III ’68

PE Hall of Fame Class of 2024

Robert E. McKee III has made transformational contributions to the industry and to Mines.  

His career is distinguished by 37 years at ConocoPhillips and Conoco, Inc., including as executive vice president over worldwide exploration and production. He also served as the senior advisor to Amb Bremer and the Iraqi Oil Ministry, appointed by President George W. Bush, in charge of restoring the Iraqi Oil Industry following the 2003 invasion.  

At Mines, McKee played varsity football, baseball and wrestling and was involved with Alpha Tau Omega and Blue Key Honor Society. He graduated from Mines in 1968 with a professional degree in petroleum engineering and earned a master’s in industrial management from MIT in 1982.  

McKee’s early positions included drilling engineer, rig supervisor, drilling manager and production manager in the United Kingdom, Middle East and the United States. After that, he became the Onshore regional E&P manager in the United States with responsibility for, among other things, construction of the Milne Point project on Alaska’s North Slope. He then became vice president of E&P research and engineering and vice president/managing director of Conoco Europe. During the last 10 years of his Conoco tenure, he managed all of Conoco’s administrative functions and guided the company into Venezuela, Indonesia and Vietnam while moving its upstream business from a mid-pack player to one widely recognized as the best in the business.  He led and integrated Conoco’s and Phillips’ upstream functions after their merger and then retired from ConocoPhillips in 2003. 

 

Immediately following his Conoco retirement, McKee accepted the appointment by President George W. Bush as senior advisor to Amb Bremer and the Iraqi Oil Ministry and led the reconstruction of the Iraqi oil sector following the invasion of Iraq and ouster of Saddam Hussein.  

McKee serves on the Mines Foundation Board of Governors and has been awarded a Distinguished Achievement Medal and inducted into the Mines Athletic Hall of Fame. With his wife Ann, he created the President’s Bridge Award scholarship and made numerous gifts to athletics, including support to develop the Clear Creek Athletics Complex. 

 

Contributions to Mines and Awards 

  • Member of the inaugural Colorado School of Mines PE Hall of Fame committee and chair of the BOG Audit Committee for six years. 
  •  Co-Chaired an earlier Mines capital fund-raising drive. 

Industry Boards 

  • Parker Drilling 
  • Post Oak Bank 
  • Allegiance Bancshares 
  • QEP Resources 
  • VTEX Energy 
  • Acorn Energy 
  • CLK Energy 
  • BlueCrest Energy 
  • Chairman, Enventure Global Technologies

Professional Societies

  • Board of directors, American Petroleum Institute 
  • National US-Arab Chamber of Commerce 
  • Society of Petroleum Engineers  
  • US-Russian Business Council 
  • Contributions to Society 
  • Institute of International Education Board, Southern Region 

Contributions to Society 

  • Chair and longtime board member– Institute of International Education, Southern Region  
  • Advisory committee of the University of Texas engineering department   
  • With his family, has led the largest fund-raising effort to benefit Green Beret soldiers and their families