About Victor Carrillo
A native of Abilene, Texas, Chairman Carrillo has worked as a petroleum geophysicist, college professor, attorney and judge. He first entered elected office in 2000, when elected to the Abilene City Council. He was later elected County Judge of his home county – the post he held when Governor Rick Perry appointed him to the Texas Railroad Commission in February 2003. In 2004, he won his first statewide election with almost four million votes and secured a six-year term of office. He currently seeks re-election to his office.
Chairman Carrillo helps to lead the state agency that oversees the Texas energy sector: the oil and gas, pipeline and surface mining industries. Carrillo has bachelors and masters degrees in Geology. He also earned his law degree from the University of Houston. He is a Texas licensed attorney and geoscientist. In 2006, he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Hardin-Simmons University – his alma mater.
Among his many accomplishments are included:
- Chairman, Texas Energy Planning Council -- created a Texas Energy Plan to help ensure that Texas remains the premier energy producing state in the nation;
- Chairman, Outer Continental Shelf advisory board to U.S. Secretary of the Interior – advising on all aspects of oil & gas leasing of the nation’s offshore;
- Member, Texas Bioenergy Policy Council -- to attract a sustainable bioenergy industry to Texas;
- Former Vice Chairman, Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission and continues to serve on the IOGCC/EPA taskforce;
- Member, Committee on Gas, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners;
- Board of Advisors of the Texas Journal of Oil, Gas & Energy Law at the University of Texas School of Law;
- Member, America's Energy Coast Honorary Leadership Council – a group educating the public on the national importance of the energy producing states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Victor and his wife, Joy, recently celebrated 25 years of marriage and have three daughters, whom they homeschooled. Unapologetically Christian, Victor is a proud pro-life conservative who attends Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Austin.
Chairman Carrillo was named by Hispanic Business Magazine to its list of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States. He is the son of a Mexican immigrant, the first in his family to have gone to college, and the highest-ranking elected Hispanic official in Texas.
