Alex Dyes

Growing up in a humble home in Colombia with his mother and grandparents, Alex Dyes feels blessed to have been given the opportunity to live, learn and work in the U.S. by his adoptive father, Edgar Dyes. By immersing himself into the oil and gas industry his father had hailed from, Dyes has rightfully earned the position of executive vice president at a public company by the age of 35.

Why did you enter the oil and gas industry?

“I followed in my father’s (Edgar Dyes) footsteps into the oil and gas industry. He is an American oil and gas professional that moved to Colombia in the 1980s, met and married my Colombian mother and adopted me. He had a successful 40-year career in the industry, including an executive role as president of a public oil and gas company in Colombia. He has been a role model. He gave me the opportunity to move to the U.S., get an American education and inspired me to get into this great industry.”

Which of your professional achievements are you most proud of?

“In the fall of 2020, our team and I took over as the management team at Ring Energy. When we took our new positions, the company was in a very tough financial position. Our team was able to create a culture that revitalized the company. The company overall had great assets, and our team introduced a new strategic vision. It has been extremely rewarding to step into an organization that was all but forgotten and believed to be going insolvent to seeing it now a striving, growing business.”

What has been your most challenging project to date, and how did you accomplish your goal?

“One of the most challenging projects of my career was Ring’s acquisition of Stronghold Energy II assets. This acquisition was nine-plus months in the making, which involved multiple offers, deep, in-depth negotiations, extreme commodity price volatility as well as huge stock value swings. All the odds were stacked against us, and not many people gave us a fighting chance. I leaned on almost all of my past experiences, and it was a total team effort to get the deal across the finish line.”

What qualities do you think are necessary for a good leader in the oil and gas industry?

“Our industry is extremely technically complex and requires leaders to be innovative and consistently challenge the status quo in order to lead teams to find more oil and gas. Good leaders need to be flexible as well as relentless considering how volatile commodity prices are in our industry. Leaders benefit from having humility as this humble perspective provides good leaders in our industry a sense of open mindedness to listen to ideas no matter where they come from.”

Who is your mentor, and what is the most valuable advice they have given you?

“My dad, Edgar Dyes, was a big inspiration for me. He adopted me and gave me the amazing opportunity to get an American education and the chance to move to Texas. He always taught me to treat others with utmost respect no matter what job function within the company they perform, as everyone in the company plays a role that leads to the success of the organization.” 

What professional advice would you give other young professionals in the industry?

“Always believe in yourself no matter how daunting or difficult a task may seem. Failure is OK, don’t be afraid of failure, be bold and try new ideas. Failure is what builds character, molds and motivates us to be successful.”