About Me

                                                            

The Early Years

I was raised in Big Spring, Tx. I have three brothers. My mom and dad did not graduate from high school. My father was a farmer, farm worker, and factory worker. He grew up in Texas then moved to California to work as a farm worker then a factory worker during the depression and war years. All three of my brothers were born in California.

Around the time I was born, Dad accepted a job selling insurance and became the Howard County Farm Bureau agent in Big Spring.

I graduated from Big Spring High. I was active there in student council and athletics. I received my Eagle Scout award, which is probably the achievement I think most of from my early years.

After graduation in 1974 I headed to Texas Tech and graduated with a Chemical Engineering degree. While there I continued something I started while in high school: playing lead guitar in a rock band. I was married to my wife Terri after our junior year, and we found ourselves with child after only eight months! I scratched the plan to attend law school and accepted a job with Exxon Production Research Company in Houston.

I had the great fortune of getting to travel to the Middle East three times while there. I also learned something extremely valuable while working in this top-tier research company with some of the world’s most brilliant scientists: scientific formulas and computer models are only a guess. Without real data to ground truth a model, it is worthless.

Terri and I eventually were blessed with six children.

 

CrownQuest

Tim Dunn is Chief Executive Officer of CrownQuest Operating, located in Midland, Texas. CrownQuest is an operating entity for oil and gas exploration and production ventures. CrownQuest operates in Texas, New Mexico, and Utah. Dunn co-founded predecessors to CrownQuest in 1996.
Tim was honored as a CEO of the year in the Large Company category in October 2013 by TIPRO and Texas Monthly magazine in their Top Producers program. The award was published in the October 2013 issue of Texas Monthly.
This Oil and Gas Investor Magazine includes information about CrownQuest:
http://www.oilandgasinvestor.com/permian-perseveres-793381#p=full

 

Parker & Parsley Petroleum

From 1987 to 1995, Dunn was an executive with Parker & Parsley Petroleum in Midland, where he served in various capacities including as a director, an individual general partner of a publicly traded master limited partnership, and as chief financial officer. Parker & Parsley became a publicly traded stock company and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1993.

When Dunn joined Parker & Parsley it was a wholly owned affiliate of a larger company that eventually went in to bankruptcy. Dunn joined a management group in a series of transactions that resulted in Parker & Parsley being spared from the bankruptcy proceedings.
Parker & Parsley grew rapidly largely through acquisitions of troubled investment partnerships and low risk development drilling of oil and gas wells. Roughly a year after Dunn’s departure, Parker & Parsley merged with Mesa Petroleum to form Pioneer Natural Resources. It now headquarters in Dallas.

Dunn participated in a large number of securities transactions, with predictable related plaintiff lawsuits, all of which were settled. It was during this period Dunn was introduced to the plaintiff lawsuit industry, and through this exposure became an avid supporter of tort reform.

 

First City Bancorporation

From 1980 to 1987 Dunn worked for affiliates of First City Bancorporation, a Houston based bank holding company, ending his career as head of commercial lending at First City Bank of Midland.

 

Exxon Production Research Company

From 1978 to 1980 Dunn worked as an engineer with Exxon Production Research Company.

 

Texas Tech University

Dunn graduated in 1978 with a degree in Chemical Engineering from Texas Tech University. He also graduated from Big Spring High School in 1974.

 

In Memory of Moriah Wimberly

Our precious two year old granddaughter died in her sleep September 18, 2015. We will miss her so much but are thankful for the two years we had with her.

Moriah’s parents Tim and Mary Kathryn have requested memorial donations go to the Human Coalition.

 

 

Self-Governance: Our American Heritage

The most succinct statement of philosophy of the American political heritage might be stated in this paraphrase from an interview given by a then-aged Captain Levi Preston, a Massachusetts farmer and Minuteman who fought in the Battle of Concord, the “shot heard round the world.” Captain Preston was asked why he, a simple farmer, was willing to fight what was then the most powerful force on earth.  He responded that as Americans, we have always governed ourselves, and we always intend to but the British intended that we shouldn’t.

Today, ordinary Americans still want to make their own decisions, but ruling elites of both parties in Washington D.C. intend that we shouldn’t. The most important fight in America has always been, and will always be, “who decides.” Who do we want to choose our doctor and make our medical decisions, ourselves or a bureaucrat who lives in a D.C. suburb?  Who do we want to decide what kind of toilet or lightbulb to install, or how much air conditioning to put in our house, ourselves or a D.C. bureaucrat? How about raising our children, making religious choices, deciding what to eat, what kind of car to drive?

D.C. either has or is in the process of sticking its nose into all these decisions, with a goal to accumulate the power to make them all, effectively rendering most Americans virtual serfs, mere indentured servants of almighty King D.C.  It is a key priority for all citizens to restore our American heritage of self-governance, and insist that each policy question first be subjected to the question “Who should be deciding this issue?”

Learn more here:

 

Criminal Justice Reform

I helped found the Center for Effective Criminal Justice at Texas Public Policy Foundation. The Center focuses on advancing statutory and administrative improvements that move Texas’ criminal justice policies toward a focus on restoring victims and communities damaged by crime. It spawned a national movement called “Right on Crime.” http://rightoncrime.com

Currently, the primary focus is too often defending the power of the government; often the government is even considered the victim of a crime. But crimes happen to people. And if a citizen is injured, government’s primary responsibility is to seek restoration of these injuries.

When I spoke at the national conference for the National Network for Safe Communities in 2015, NNSC Director David Kennedy told a fascinating tale of how inner city youth lose respect for the law. He said when he asks how they lost respect for the law he hears the same story repeatedly: “My mom had her groceries stolen, called the police, and after they took the report asked ‘will we get our groceries back?’ and they laughed.” I was astounded, because the story I have used to demonstrate to people the extent to which our criminal justice system has lost its way is very similar. If Party A has their car stolen by Party B, what does Party A want? Answer: their car back and repentance on the part of Party B. What do we do instead? The government throws Party B in jail, impounds the vehicle for evidence, and sends Party A a bill for the incarceration (as well as the related social costs). Party A is mugged twice.

The government’s job is to work FOR people and communities, not the other way round. I once saw an episode of a reality TV show called “Bounty Hunters.” These fellows were hired by companies to retrieve stolen equipment BEFORE it crossed the border OR was captured by law enforcement (who would impound the equipment for evidence.) They mainly wanted their stuff back. The perpetrator should pay a price too. But non-violent crimes should be recompensed in a way that gets people back into the work force and adding to communities as quickly as possible. Prison only does one thing effectively: incapacitation. Violent people need to be incapacitated. But many, many people in prison are non-violent offenders.

Currently, the primary client of the criminal justice system is not citizens, but government itself. Government as its own client is a threat to personal liberty and an affront to community. Calling our prison system “the department of corrections” is severely misleading at best.

Speaking philosophically, the pinnacle of community life is when people cooperate with one another to serve each other’s best interest. Loving your neighbor as yourself is the bedrock of civil society.  And real love is only possible when it is uncoerced. The criminal justice system cannot make people love one another. But what it can do is seek the maximum opportunity for free associations and community harmony with the minimum application of coercive force.

Israel Allies Foundation

Dunn is the chairman of the Christian Advisory Board of the Israel Allies Foundation. The organization included him on its list of “Israel’s Top 50 Christian Allies 2022.”

Green Acres

Our family is proud to have partnered with the Jeff Beard family to restore and reopen the iconic Green Acres mini golf course as a destination for family fun.  Midland is a fantastic family town, but needs more activities for families to enjoy. We are pleased to contribute this to our great community.

Click Here to read the article in the Midland Reporter Telegram