Kirk Edwards

Kirk Edwards is a proud native Odessan, successful petroleum engineer, and long-time booster of The University of Texas Permian Basin.

Kirk graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Austin in 1981 and began his career in Petroleum Engineering for Texaco. He went on to found his own company, Odessa Exploration, and later sold it to Key Energy with Kirk joining the board and becoming the executive vice president. The company grew from 600 employees when Edwards joined the board, to more than 10,000 workers when he retired in 2001. Today, Kirk is President and CEO of Latigo Petroleum, where he develops, manages, and operates diverse oil and gas assets and surface lands.

Edwards has earned a long list of distinguished awards throughout his lifetime. In 2008, he received the Community Statesman Award in Business by the Heritage of Odessa Foundation. In 2011, he was inducted into the Odessa Business Hall of Fame by the Odessa Chamber of Commerce. In 2015, Kirk was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year by the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, and received the Texas Leadership Award as Outstanding Local Texas Leader from the Shepperd Leadership Institute. Edwards was also named to Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s energy committee in 2015, and to the University Lands Board In 2018 by the regents of the University of Texas System.

Edwards was also an active member of the UTPB Development Board to help bring Division II Football to the Permian Basin. Edwards is the namesake and key donor for the D. Kirk Edwards Family Human Performance Center that opened on the UT Permian Basin campus in fall of 2020.