Fracking pioneer Harold Hamm founded and chairs Continental Resources, one of the nation's biggest independent oil companies.
The 13th child of Oklahoma sharecroppers, Hamm picked cotton barefoot as a child and started working at a gas station at age 16 to support his family.
He eventually started his own trucking company hauling water to and from oilfields, then in 1971 took out a loan to drill his first well.
In the 1990s he had the vision to use horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in North Dakota's Bakken region, transforming the U.S. oil industry.
Today Continental, which went public in 2007, produces 400,000 barrels' worth of oil and gas per day. Hamm and his 5 children took the company private in a $27 billion deal in 2022.
When Hamm divorced his wife of 26 years in late 2014, he wrote her a settlement check for nearly $975 million.
Hamm served as an informal energy advisor to former President Donald Trump and spoke on Trump's behalf at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
In Their Own Words
I see these people who spring out of nowhere with a new app that they're selling for a billion dollars. How good is that! That's fantastic! That's what it should all be about. There shouldn't be any limits.
Jon Beckerman, creator of "Dinner with the Parents," says the series has big, action-packed stories featuring a family who show they care via very unique methods.
Jon Beckerman, creator of "Dinner with the Parents," says the series has big, action-packed stories featuring a family who show they care via very unique methods.
There are many areas of our lives where technology has led to the development of superior solutions; except for in-person gatherings, meetings and conferences.