Tim Dunn was born and raised in the oil-rich plains of West Texas. He learned the value of hard work at an early age from a father who worked as a farmer and factory worker during the trying and uncertain days of The Great Depression and World War II. Growing up in Big Spring, TX, Tim was active in his high school’s student council and athletic programs, also earning the rank of Eagle Scout prior to his graduation in 1974.
He married his wife Terri after his junior year at Texas Tech University where he subsequently earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering. The unexpected pleasure of learning that Terri was carrying their first child led him to scrap his plans to enter law school and accept a job with Exxon Production Research Company in Houston as an engineer. While there, he had the opportunity to work in the Middle East on three separate occasions and learn from some of the world’s most brilliant scientists.
Tim left Exxon to enter the banking industry where after working with First City Bancorporation would become the head of energy and commercial lending with First City Bank of Midland. Returning to operations in the energy business, Dunn joined Parker & Parsley Petroleum in Midland where he would serve as director, general partner, and chief financial officer over the course of his eight-year tenure.
In 1996, Dunn co-founded a business now known as CrownQuest Operating, where he now serves as CEO. He was honored as CEO of the year in the Large Company category in October 2013 by TIPRO and Texas Monthly magazine in their Top Producers program.
In addition to his deep involvement in the petroleum industry, Tim founded Midland Classical Academy in 1998, a non-profit, K-12 learning institution whose upper level curriculum centers on a reading list rooted in the development of western civilization, utilizing the Socratic method in its teaching approach. He has served as a board member since the school’s inception.
Among his active leadership roles, Dunn is a board member of Grace School of Theology and Citizens for Self-Governance, chairman of the board of directors for Empower Texans, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, and The King’s College in New York City, and vice chairman of the board of directors at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and First Liberty Institute.
Tim and Terri continue to make their home in Midland, TX where they are the proud parents of six children and 20 grandchildren.