C. (Pete) J. Silas
C. (Pete) J. Silas
“I think people have a basic understanding of what’s right and what’s wrong, and they expect other people, in business or otherwise, to live up to these principles.”
Biography
C.J. “Pete” Silas was born in Florida and received a degree in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1953. After his service in the Army, he returned to Phillips Petroleum in Oklahoma as a plastics engineer and began his rise through the corporate ranks of the company. From 1968 to 1976, Silas was assigned to Phillips’ Europe-Africa area, where he directed much of the development of the company’s Ekofisk Operations in the Norwegian North Sea. He became senior vice president of Phillips in 1978, then executive vice president in 1980, and was made a director and elected president in 1982. He was honored with the Scholar-Athlete Total Person Award, was named to Georgia Tech’s Athletic Hall of Fame, and was named CEO of the Year. He also served as a board member of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and the National Boys Clubs of America.
Fun fact
Pete Silas was an outstanding basketball player while a student at Georgia Tech and joined the Phillips 66ers until he entered the Army and played for the basketball team that won the 1955 Pan Am Games.
Oklahoma connections
Silas came to work at Phillips Petroleum in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in 1953.