Richard Kinder

Richard Kinder
Born	19 October 1944 (Forbes)
Nationality	American
Residence	Houston, Texas (Forbes)
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Co-founder of Kinder Morgan; former president of Enron
Children	1 (Forbes)
Education	University of Missouri (BA, JD) (Forbes)

American businessman; co-founder and executive chairman of Kinder Morgan; former president of Enron

Richard D. Kinder (born 19 October 1944) is an American businessman. He co-founded the pipeline company Kinder Morgan in 1997, after leaving Enron, where he had been president and chief operating officer.^[1]^[2] He was its chief executive until 2015 and is now executive chairman.^[3] On 11 November 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Kinder 246th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$12.8 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as pipelines.^[1]^[4] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Kinder 232nd, at US$13.0 billion.^[5] Kinder Morgan's 2026 proxy statement lists him as the beneficial owner of 11.6% of the company. It says he takes a salary of US$1 a year.^[3] In 2025 his family's Kinder Foundation gave US$150 million to set up the Kinder Children's Cancer Center in Houston.^[6]

Early life

Forbes says Kinder has a bachelor's degree and a law degree from the University of Missouri.^[1]

Enron

On 26 November 1996 Enron announced that its chairman and chief executive, Kenneth Lay, would also become president from 1 January 1997. It said Kinder, president and chief operating officer, had chosen to "pursue opportunities beyond Enron rather than continue in the chief operating officer role, which he has held for more than six years".^[2] Kinder said in the release that he had just marked 16 years at Enron.^[2]

Kinder Morgan

Forbes says Kinder co-founded Kinder Morgan in 1997. It describes the company as one of the largest US energy infrastructure firms, owning or operating 78,000 miles of pipeline.^[1] The 2026 proxy statement says he was chairman and chief executive of Kinder Morgan, Inc. from 1999 until he became executive chairman in 2015. He also led its affiliated partnerships until 2014.^[3] Kimberly Dang became chief executive on 1 August 2023.^[3]

Shareholding and pay

The 2026 proxy statement lists Kinder as the beneficial owner of 258,086,579 shares, or 11.60%. It says that, at his request, he receives a base salary of US$1 a year and reimburses the company for health-care premiums paid on his behalf.^[3]

Philanthropy

Forbes says the Kinder Foundation funds education, urban green space and quality-of-life projects in Houston. It also says he gave US$25 million to the University of Missouri in 2015 to support study of the US Constitution.^[1] In May 2025 the foundation, which he chairs, gave US$150 million for the Kinder Children's Cancer Center. The centre is a joint venture of Texas Children's Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center, to be built in the Texas Medical Center.^[6] Texas Children's chief executive said it was the largest gift in the hospital's history.^[6]

Political activity

Not counting memo entries for joint-fundraising allocations, Kinder's itemised federal contributions in the 2022–2026 cycles came to about US$158,000. The largest recipient was the Cornyn Victory Committee (US$95,600). Smaller sums went to the Texas Republican Voter Engagement PAC, the Dan Crenshaw Victory Committee and the campaigns of Senator John Cornyn and Representative Wesley Hunt.^[7]

Across the 19 non-memo records retrieved for the 2022–2026 cycles, the filtered total is US$158,000 (a lower bound). The largest recipient committees, as named in the filings, were CORNYN VICTORY COMMITTEE (US$95,600), TEXAS REPUBLICAN VOTER ENGAGEMENT PAC (US$15,000), DAN CRENSHAW VICTORY COMMITTEE (US$7,000), TEXANS FOR SENATOR JOHN CORNYN INC. (US$5,800), HUNT FOR CONGRESS (US$5,800).^[7]

Federal contributions (FEC Schedule A, itemised; lower bound)
Cycle	Total (US$, lower bound)	Records	Largest recipient committees (as filed with the FEC)
2022	$66,800	9	CORNYN VICTORY COMMITTEE ($36,500); TEXAS REPUBLICAN VOTER ENGAGEMENT PAC ($10,000); TEXANS FOR SENATOR JOHN CORNYN INC. ($5,800); HUNT FOR CONGRESS ($5,800)
2024	$63,700	5	CORNYN VICTORY COMMITTEE ($52,100); TEXAS REPUBLICAN VOTER ENGAGEMENT PAC ($5,000); SYLVESTER TURNER CAMPAIGN ($3,300); TEAM STAND FOR AMERICA ($3,300)
2026	$27,500	5	CORNYN VICTORY COMMITTEE ($7,000); DAN CRENSHAW VICTORY COMMITTEE ($7,000); REPUBLICAN VOTER ENGAGEMENT PAC ($5,000); GROW THE MAJORITY ($5,000)

Wealth

Forbes classes Kinder as self-made, with wealth from pipelines.^[1]

Wealth history

Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 26 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2001. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list, and, where applicable, the rank and estimate in the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans.^[5]^[1]

Forbes estimates by list year
Year	World's Billionaires rank	Net worth (US$ bn)	Forbes 400 rank	Forbes 400 net worth (US$ bn)
2001	336	1.5	145	1.5
2002	351	1.3	167	1.2
2003	348	1.2	162	1.4
2004	356	1.6	152	1.6
2005	321	2.0	93	2.5
2006	317	2.4	98	2.8
2007	323	2.8	130	2.9
2008	396	2.9	105	3.5
2009	191	3.2	94	3.2
2010	249	3.6	51	5.2
2011	128	7.4	46	6.4
2012	110	8.2	36	9.4
2013	112	9.8	39	10.2
2014	130	9.5	41	10.7
2015	100	12.0	52	8.9
2016	240	5.4	69	7.0
2017	194	7.2	74	6.7
2018	281	6.2	79	6.6
2019	239	6.6	67	7.5
2020	315	5.2	103	6.2
2021	369	7.0	128	7.1
2022	316	7.5	110	7.3
2023	317	7.2	123	7.5
2024	317	8.1	112	9.3
2025	248	10.6	108	11.1
2026	232	13.0	100	12.9

International and political links

This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."