Dr. Bobby B. Lyle has excelled as an engineer, corporate executive, entrepreneur, civic leader, university business school professor, and academic administrator during his distinguished and multifaceted career. He currently serves as Chairman of Lyco Holdings Incorporated, a private investment firm.

Before Lyco Holdings, Dr. Lyle founded Lyco Energy Corporation in 1981 and served as its Chairman, President and CEO until the company was sold to Enerplus Resources (USA) in 2005. Previously, he served as President of Cornell Oil Company. He started his career as a structural test engineer with General Dynamics and later supervised strategic field operations for Geotech, a Teledyne Industries company.

As a private equity investor, he has helped organize and served as director of both public and private companies and joint ventures covering a broad range of industries, including banking, oil and gas exploration, natural gas processing and transmission, software development, restaurants, real estate development, dress manufacturing, textile printing, and home and industrial insulation.

His 28 years in the energy industry were highlighted by the use of innovations in drilling and completion of wells in oil and gas fields previously deemed uneconomic in Colorado, California, Texas, and Montana. Most notable among these was when Lyco Energy Corporation drilled and fracture stimulated the first horizontal well in the Bakken Shale Formation in Richland County, Montana. That initiative led to the development of one of the largest oil fields in North America.

Active in civic and community affairs, he has served as trustee of Southern Methodist University for over 32 years. He is also a member of the Executive Boards of the Lyle School of Engineering and the Cox School of Business. He previously served as dean ad interim and executive dean of the SMU Cox School of Business. In 2008, SMU named the Lyle School of Engineering in his honor. Lyle also serves as a trustee of the Institute for the Study of Earth and Man at SMU. He is Vice-Chair of both the Maguire Energy Institute and the Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility. He received the SMU Distinguished Alumni Award in 1995 and in 2006 was named to the Lyle School of Engineering Hall of Leaders. He was chosen as a Distinguished Alumni by the School of Engineering at Louisiana Tech University in 2012. He was inducted into the University Hall of Leaders and awarded the Tower Medallion during that same year. He was also inducted into the C. E. Byrd High School Hall of Fame in 2008.

His community service has included leadership as Chair, Vice-Chair, or President of the Boy Scouts of America-Circle Ten Council, National and North Texas Advisory Boards of The Salvation Army, Texas Trees Foundation, and the Communities Foundation of Texas, just to name a few. He was inducted into the Dallas Business Hall of Fame in 2013. He has received numerous awards for his civic and community work, including the Robert S. Folsom Leadership Award, named after one of Dallas’ former mayors, the J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award, and the Linz Award, the highest award given in Dallas for community service.

Education:
Ed.D., Strategic Planning & Leadership in Higher Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
MS, Engineering Administration, Southern Methodist University
BS, Mechanical Engineering, Louisiana Tech University