Thomas O. Hicks is Chairman, Founder and Partner of Hicks Holdings LLC, a Dallas-based family office that owns and manages the Thomas and Cinda Hicks Family’s real estate, corporate assets, and investments.
Through Hicks Equity Partners LLC (“HEP”), a registered investment adviser and the private equity arm of the Thomas O. Hicks family office, Mr. Hicks leads a seasoned team of private equity professionals, who together combine a 40-year track record of outstanding private equity investing with the patient approach of family office capital.
HEP specializes in small and middle market proprietary transactions ($25 million to $300 million in enterprise value) in specialty manufacturing, energy, food and beverage, media, and special situations.
Mr. Hicks pioneered the “buy and build” strategy of investing and Co-founded, and was Chairman from 1989 through 2004 of Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, Inc., (“HMTF”), one of the world’s most active nationally prominent private equity firms specializing in leveraged acquisitions which raised more than $12 billion of private equity across six funds and completed over $50 billion of leveraged acquisitions. From 1984 to 1989, Mr. Hicks was Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Hicks & Haas, a Dallas-based private equity firm. The successful acquisitions of HMTF and Hicks & Haas included AMFM Inc., A&W Brands, Inc., Berg Electronics, Inc., Dr Pepper/Seven Up Companies, International Home Foods, Life Partners Group, Pinnacle Foods, Sybron International, and Yell Group plc, among others.
From 1995 – 2011, Mr. Hicks was the Owner and Chairman of the Dallas Stars, a National Hockey League club. During his ownership, the Club captured seven Division Championships, three Western Conference regular season crowns, two Presidents’ Trophies as the team with the best regular season record, two consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Finals and the 1999 Stanley Cup Championship. The Stars had the third-best record in the entire NHL over his 15 seasons as owner. He was also instrumental in the development and building of the American Airlines Center (“AAC”) in Dallas, TX which opened in July 2001.
Thomas O. Hicks was also the Owner and Chairman of the Board of the Texas Rangers, a Major League baseball club and of the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington from June 1998 to August 2010. During his ownership, the club captured three American West Division titles and was the 2010 American League Champion, advancing to the World Series the same year.
For the past two years, Mr. Hicks has been Senior Partner and Director of The Beneficient Company (“Ben”) and a member of the Board of Directors, of which he serves as Vice Chairman. Ben is an innovative, rapidly growing Fintech company that is the leader in providing liquidity options to MHNW Investors and smaller institutions for their alternative asset portfolios.
In January 2018, Mr. Hicks was appointed by President Donald J. Trump to serve as a Commissioner on the American Battle Monuments Commission. Mr. Hicks is Chairman of the Boards of Drilling Tools International, Standard Pump Parts, and GAC Media, LLC. He is a member of the University of Texas Chancellor’s Council Executive Committee, the University of Texas McCombs School of Business Advisory Council and also of the University of Southern California Marshall School Board of Leaders. He formerly served on the Board of Trustees for The Center for Strategic and International Studies. Also, a former member of the University of Texas System Board of Regents, Mr. Hicks served as Chairman of the University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO), which manages the $40 billion University of Texas Permanent University Fund and Long-Term Funds. Mr. Hicks graduated with an MBA from the University of Southern California in 1970 and a BBA from the University of Texas in 1969. He is also a past recipient of the University of Texas’ Distinguished Alumnus Award and served ten years as a Distinguished Guest Lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
Mr. Hicks is the father of six children and eleven grandchildren, and he and his wife, Cinda, have been long time residents of Dallas.