Richard (Rich) D. Kinder is Executive Chairman of Kinder Morgan, Inc., one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America, which he co-founded in February 1997. Under his leadership, Kinder Morgan has grown from a small company with 175 employees to a corporation with approximately 11,000 employees.  He receives a salary of $1 a year and is the largest shareholder of Kinder Morgan.  Kinder Morgan owns an interest in or operates approximately 83,000 miles of pipelines and 140 terminals. 

Mr. Kinder and his wife, Nancy, established the Kinder Foundation in 1997 and have since made substantial grants to educational, quality of life and urban green space initiatives primarily in the city of Houston. Their foundation, under Nancy’s leadership as CEO, has helped make possible a number of major initiatives, including Discovery Green Park, the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, the Kinder Institute for Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri, Buffalo Bayou Park, the Bayou Greenways 2020 project, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston campus redevelopment, a grant toward major redevelopment and expansion of facilities at Memorial Park, the lead gift for the Buffalo Bayou East project, and most recently, the catalyst donation to establish Kinder Children’s Cancer Center, a joint venture of MD Anderson and Texas Children’s Hospital.

Mr. Kinder received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Missouri and served in Vietnam as a Captain in the U.S. Army. He has served on numerous corporate and non-profit boards and is Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. He is also chairman of the Kinder Foundation.