Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the nationally syndicated Energy Mix Radio Show produced
by the Energy Network Media Group. The Energy Mix Radio
Show will give you an inside look at the energy
industry and how it affects you by talking with industry leaders, experts,
and government officials on the Energy Mix Radio Show.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to the Energy Mixed Radio Show, where Texas grit
meets global energy. We bring you the voices shaping our
future from oil fills to boardrooms, with the power to
move markets and minds. I'm your host, Kimbalato, and today
we're turning up the voltage with a guest who knows
how to mix leadership, finance, and Texas pride like no other.
(00:39):
Joining me today is Rick Figueroa, the Chairman of the
Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation and is also the
CEO of Patron Partners. A man whose boots are planted
firmly in both the range lends of Brendam Texas and
the corridors of power appointed by Governor Greg Abbott, Rick
(01:00):
brings a unique blend of financial acumen and public service
to the table, especially when it comes to oil, gas
and the regulatory heartbeat of Texas. He's a trusted voice
in a Hispanic leadership and a fierce advocate for economic empowerment,
and today he's here to talk to us about energy
(01:21):
equity and everything in between. Rick, welcome to your first
time on the Energy Mix radio show.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Great to be here, Kim, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So Rick, before we get started, I want to talk
about your role as the Texas Commissioner of Licensing and Regulation,
specifically drilling down into the energy part. But before we
get started, our listeners would probably love to hear a
little bit of history on you, how you found yourself
coming into this, and maybe a little bit of your
educational background of how this led you to this wonderful
(01:53):
appointment from Greg Abbott from Governor Abbot.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Well, it's been great. Yeah, Grip and Bay City, just
South Texas, Houston and single Mom. I call it the
dmbing story Camp. It's pretty much, you know, Gourbent housing
and you kind of the day labor on a ranch.
And it wasn't much in regards to a Cinderella story
except the fact that my mother basically nagged me to
(02:18):
go to college. So basically I went to college, went
to A and M and got into Grand Accounty and
got grant Master's Atland Economics, and I went on to
work in public accounting for about four years and then
moved on to wealth management. And wealth management one of
my jobs is to chase money, right, that's the premise
behind what we do. And there's a lot of money
(02:39):
in politics. And so I got invited to actually was
Governor Perry at the time, to a lunch with Governor Perry,
and he and I got to chatting about just business
acumen and plying it to governmental operations. Is back in
two thousand and eight, and he asked me if I
joined what it called Texas Judicial Council, which oversees the
back office courts, which was kind of a unique position
(03:03):
because I was the only non lawyer judge. There's twenty
one members chaired by the Chief Justice, seventeen basically judges
and three lawyers in meat and so. But I basically
created what we call a shared solution to the court's operations.
There was two hundred fifty four counties and there's over
seven hundred courts and applying veryous fundamental apar it practices
(03:30):
to how they operate create a lot of efficiency redundancy
so that the courts could back each other up. That
got me a pointed to. Then Governor Abbott took over
and he moved me over to TDLR. TDR is kind
of a little known agency. It's kind of a sleeping giant.
I tell people a government thirty nine licenses, hair addressing, cosmetology, barbers,
(03:50):
water well drillers. She talks to electricians, ac but also
we control now motor fuels. So when you go to
get help your gas, you'll see a sticker that's our sticker,
assume my name on it, certifying you get a pump
a gall of gas. And it was just recently the
last legislative session we've got a lottery of bingo has
been come over to us. So it's it's become a
(04:12):
golden the golden marker of regulating and licensing major vocational
and also processes within the state of Texas. So it's
pretty exciting. It's a lot it's not a paining job,
but it's a very exciting job because the amount of
impact that we make so many people's lives, over a
million licenses that we helped try to get them on board,
(04:35):
get them a job, move them forward, and get them
being productive.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Texas cis Well chairman Figarolla. You know, recently I attended
a summit in Pennsylvania and it was covering AI and
they had a speaker there, Mike Row, which we all know,
and he discussed how we really have to, you know,
try to make these vocational trades, you know, usable again
(05:02):
and how attracted they are, considering that a lot of
jobs that were not really sure which ones will be
replaced by artificial intelligence, but we know for sure that
these vocational traits will not be. And his whole thought
was that we need to do a better job of
helping the young kids of today, the young adults coming
(05:23):
into the workforce, how important those jobs will be in
the future. So, as you're chairman of this, I look
forward to seeing how you plan on moving the mark
and helping them see that these are the jobs that
you don't have to worry about where you be replaced
in AI.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Just want to get your thoughts on that, Kevin. I
can't tell you how critical this is. This is. Let
me give you the scope. I spoke to the governor
probably three years ago. I said, look, Texas has to grow.
We don't need more lawyers. We need ac repair, we
need electricians, we need water, We need vocationalized. And somehow
the narrative back twenty years ago was that if you
(06:00):
weren't smart, your occasional license. And I managed wealth. I
managed three hundred and seventy five million dollars worth of
assets my top twenty clients. So it's a million dollars
minimum to come walk into my office. My top twenty clients,
half of them never went to college. They were just
business owners. The sold their business and they did very well,
several million dollars of benefit. And so we have to
(06:23):
recalibrate how people perceive these vocational licensing and that's kind
of our job. But also so important is the impact
to communities. And I'll take you three steps of the house.
Build thirteen forty two is why I championed which allowed
us to issue probationary licenses to electricians in ac repair,
so people would have their license. Say, a licensee would
(06:43):
get in a bar fight and he would go to
jail and then he come out and he said, I
want my license back because we would suspend his license. Now,
if I'm not comfortable sending that licensee to my house
with my wife, why am I going to send him
to your house? Right? But I know that the recidivism
rate for him goes up triple if I don't have
a job for him, and he's going to cost the
(07:04):
state money. So what we did is we're able to
put a probationary license where he could work in a
institution like a building or new construction, but he couldn't
go into private residence, which was a great is stepping
stone to get him back to where he needed to be.
And so that's a huge it's an ROLI a fifty
thousand dollars liable liability being in prison versus a fifty
(07:25):
thousand dollars asset right on the lark. Another program that
we're working on right now is instituting testing and licensing
within junior colleges so that when you get your associate degree,
you also get your license. You don't have to wait
and go to an off site testing. So we're partnering
with our junior colleges. One initiative that's kind of near
and dear to my heart is my wife's on the
(07:46):
board chairs the board of Arrow and Arrow. Harvy processes
ten to fifteen of the adoption foster kids in state
Texas and so about setting one hundred of these kids
age out of the system a year. Suicide rate for
these kids it's about thirty percent and drug addictions thirty percent,
So sixty percent minimum are going to be dead or
(08:07):
on drugs. Now, that's crazy, right, these are kids. So
what we're doing is we're trying to figure out how
to get to them because once they reach age about
fourteen or fifteen, they're not going to get adopt The
odds of adoption has gone down dramatically, right, So we
have about three to four years to prep them so
that when they do age out, they're able to have
a job that can sustain themselves in their livelihood and
(08:28):
they can be a productive citizen versus somebody's just kind
of marginalized. So it's an exciting opportunity in so many ways,
either with adoptions or with ability to incarceration to get
people who are incarcerating and reduce their were citizen rate.
But the overall, my overall goal is to create a
pipeline of talent so that the state can grow. And
(08:50):
these are fundamental jobs. They're not going to go awr.
AI is not going to fix your ac AI it's
going to fix your electricity, right, They're not. AI is
not going to drill the water well and so these
are now that it's going to be more technical to
locations as we grow, but it won't change those needs
for those people.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Absolutely. I'm so glad to hear you say that, because
those are sometimes the forgotten people, and they really shouldn't be.
They just need Maybe they made a wrong turn somewhere
and hopefully they're able to make the turn back into society.
And it sounds like you've got your pulse on what
is needed here in the state of Texas. Let's let's
set chera. Let's talk about the Texas Commission of Licensing
(09:30):
and Regulation that you are overseeing. How does your role
intersect with oil and gas, the industry and workforce and
safety standards. I'm not sure if our listeners really understand
how much you're doing in that area as well.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Well. You can drill all without having electrical and you
can't do it, you know, and make sure you're going
to need those types of location and we're doing water wheeldrolls.
But for me, the oil industry is such an integral
part because a lot of the I call the ancillary services.
Might I be drilling the well, but the answery services
around that are such a productive part of that execution task.
(10:09):
So for for us, I think when you look at
energy and how energy is such a critical part of
the say to Texas, our licensees are collaborating constantly with
energy companies and figuring out how to do things better.
Like I said, one of the initiatives that we talked
about was when we go out and build these licensees opportunities.
(10:31):
We've learned that there's certain areas in Texas that need
more support, right like the Rio Grand Valley or certain
to Shell are there's certain table like I said, building
communities around those. I know that there's probably I would
say ten to fifteen projects right now that we're looking at,
just trying to figure out how to be more collaborated
(10:54):
with the oil industry, how to help support what they
need to make sure elkfacial energy gas. How can we
what are the need, what are the ancillary services, and
how do we give those vocational licenses to them so
that they can help and perform what they need to perform. So, yeah,
our stickers on the pump, So every gallon of gas
that gets pumped in the state Texas, we have to
certify that one the skimmers which are a big problem
(11:17):
within the pumps and those are skimming your credit cards.
The theft is a huge issue that we're trying to
really mitigate down but also making sure that the gallon
gas is high quality and it is what you expect
to get absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
When we come back from break, I'd like to have
you kind of just point out the different there's a
couple of different areas and oil and gas that you regulate,
not just at the pump and energy, you're also into
water wells. So let's take a quick break. When we return,
we'll get back on the topic of what specifically your
commission is doing pertaining to regulate the energy sector. You're
(11:50):
listening to the Energy Mixed radio show and we'll be
right back.
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Speaker 3 (13:01):
And we're back.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
You're listening to the Energy Mixed radio show. My guest
today is Charin Vigoroa. He is with the Texas Commission
of Licensing and Regulation Charing. Before the break, you were
telling us a little bit about some of what the
Commission Licensing and Regulation does. Can we drill down a
little bit more and talk to me a little bit
about what you're doing pertaining to wells in the oil
(13:23):
and gas sector and how you regulate that as.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
To well Right, So, the training and the and the
idea behind the water well drills is to make sure
the certification. I mean, it's such a first of all,
you've and I know that water is such a valuable commodity.
It's so many of them, and I think it's kind
of one of those things that people don't appreciate until
they don't have it right, and it's just such a
(13:47):
It's one of those things that already expects the faster
it comes on the water comes, but they also don't
appreciate the amount of water that is needed to drill
well right, and to the water associated with manufacturing and
and and and also industrial plants. I mean, it's just
it's tremendous not and you look at the challenges associated
with how many sticks are going on to the urban
(14:07):
sprawl in the ground, and like I live in Brenham
and so they're one of the biggest challenges is that
we're having all these small plot farms five acre bomber.
They're drilling their own stick and they're building their own
pond and they're filling that pond with a reservoir and
what does that look like? So that that doesn't follow
our purview, but we want to do is make sure
(14:28):
the water well drillers are aware and they're giving us information.
We have an advisory a council that basically feeds us
at the Commission information on how water wells are happening,
what's going on, what are they seeing, do they see
plumes of those types of things. So we're trying to
keep tab as much as possible. When you manage thirty
nine licenses, you can't I can't be an expert in
nutrition and ac and waterwere drillers and cosmetology. So were
(14:51):
depending a lot on advisory commission or advisory panels that
are underneath us, and they basically feed us up and
so we try to get the pulse. And right now,
one of the challenges, as you're talking about, there's so
many stakes what they call stakes in the ground, and
these reservoirs are going to be they're starting to be threatened.
But these individual landowners that are drilling out and so
we're trying to figure out how to keep one those
in atlantowners have the right to drill in their land,
(15:13):
and but how do we regulate that, how do we
how do we make sure that we're not putting ourselves
in a bind. I know one of the things that
you and I talked about is the brackish water along
the Gulf coast right the ability to mine that. South
Texas Public Utilis has done a great job. Those wells
are only one hundred feet deep if that, and but
(15:34):
they're able to desalinate that brackish war so quickly and
access that water for Brownsville, and they do a great job.
We need to be able to There's a huge reservoir
stretches all the way from Brownsville all the way up
to a Mantagorda if it are further, and it's billions and
gallons of water that we could access for the coast.
So we're just got to be more innovative, more efficient
on how to turn that water, that brackish water into
(15:57):
powdable water and making sure that we're building something for
the long term. When I'm cutting ourselves short because we're
just trying to drastically react to something proactively managing the
whole water work process, well.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
You know, I mean, looking at how many people are
relocating into Texas as a whole, it's just mind boggling.
And how do we continue with construction energy when we
are looking at some of the scarcest water we've seen
you in a long time, and so it's good to
see that you're looking at it and realizing we've got
(16:32):
to find some solutions. And it's nice to see that
even of course our Texas legislators and our governor understands that.
In your opinion, Chairman, what are some of the biggest
regulatory challenges that Texas spaces in balancing energy expansion and
environmental responsibility.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
That's a great question. I'll tell you from our vocational
I don't have the expertise in regards to the environmental
side of it. I'll give you f my expertise in
regards to vocational right. Number one is talent. The biggest
complaint I hear from business owners is we need talent.
We need people willing to work one to do this right,
(17:08):
and they're just that doesn't seem to be an ability
for them to find the right talent. And I think
that we need to find people who are well educated
who are going to that workforce, talent that people are
going to attract with business owners are going to be
able to say, hey, I can I can do a
great plug. I'll give you another example and Brenham Brenham's
(17:31):
its not it's not far from Useton. It's in between
use Austin and Houston. So I have a couple of
manufacturers of our clients, they've had to aggregate themselves to
have some sort of attraction because the pool of talent
from there is not strong enough to service their manufacturing facilities, right,
And so we got to really recruit and pull people
(17:53):
in into and give them the ability to understand the
wealth that they can create by having these locational licenses
and the opportunity that's there in front of them. Again,
I said, my clients that are multi millionaires in nevery
one's college. That story is not told very often, right,
and what that path looks like and the independence associated
with that. It's exciting when you talk to a young
(18:15):
high school graduating and tell them, hey, look, you know, look,
let me tell you the success stories and so and
so and so and so on how this has worked,
and they just like wow, they just so. I think.
You know, you talked about Mike row earlier about you know,
speaking to him. He's such a great champion of these
these likes and these vocational opportunities that are there. We
have to get out of the way, though, on the
(18:36):
regulatory agency side, we need to make sure and get
out of the way. We need to make sure we
scrutinize and eliminate those that are trying to do harm
to the vocation. But one of the things I tell
these you know, whether it's cosmetology, whether in which human
traffic or human traffic in the massage therapy in the street,
or drug trafficking in the Barbara Barbara College metology, you
(18:57):
have to own your vocation. I can't change those industries.
Those vocational licenses have to take ownership and say we're
not we're not going to allow our vocation to be
labeled a certain way. We're going to change the label.
We're going to change conversation. And so self monitoring of
these vocations are such a big part of it. And
because I can't hire enough enforcers to monitor a million licenses,
(19:19):
it just doesn't work right. You just so and you don't.
And again, as a consumer, you want to make sure
that if that vocational license he has that license, that
there's some aptitude and there's some legitimacy to what they're doing.
And you want to make sure that you're getting what
you're paying for. For the service, So we have to
get out of the way, validate the license quickly impossible,
making sure the quality of vocational train is there so
(19:43):
that person can executes the highest level, and then recruit, recruit, recruit, recruit.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Absolutely well, Chairman, figure out when we get back from break,
I want to try to explain to the listeners and
even myself. Quite frankly, it's somewhat complicated when we look
at energy specifically because other agency's license energy, and then
you guys also come in and kind of regulate certain
areas as well, so you don't necessarily approve anybody you're
(20:09):
kind of monitoring or want to get into that side
as well of how are you monitoring and what are
you monitoring? But let's take a quick break. You're listening
to the Energy Mixed radio show and we'll be right back.
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Speaker 3 (21:22):
And we're back.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
You're listening to the Energy Mixed radio show. My guest
today is Chairman Figueroa, who is been appointed by Governor
Abbot to cover the Commission of Licensing and Regulations. Chairman,
before the break, you told us that you all basically
monitor and our overseers a thirty nine different license that's
a lot of changing years of different completely different types
(21:45):
of business sets, from barbers to oil or at the
gas pumps, and so I wanted to ask you since
Governor Abbot appointed you to help shape licensing policy, how
do you see the impact on energy related trades and
profession in Texas? And specifically, can you go into what
you know explain a little bit more. If you're monitoring drillers,
(22:08):
what does that kind of look like? And if you
say gas pumps that we see your sticker, what does
that mean to the text and that's listening. What are
you looking for pertaining to gas? Is it something where
they're price gouging or is it you mentioned skimmers? How
does that play into what you guys are specifically looking
for and regulating.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
So on a consumer basis. Right, when you look at
the pump, there's so many things that are going involved. Right,
there is the actual certification that that pump is working accurately, right,
that it is actually pumping and down at a gas. Right,
that's fundamental. The second is if there is a quality
issue within the fuel, Right, if there's water or whatever,
(22:52):
those suspections would come from us as well. Somebody is
trying to dilute their gas, whatever the case may be. Also,
there are a lot of what we call bladder bandits
sometimes will come in and use farm diesel, Right, or
red diesel, and we have to make sure that they're
using the propertiesel. But the biggest one for us is
(23:14):
what I would call skimmers. And skimmers are basically when
you slide your your card into that pump, right the
one of the biggest challenges is how to keep those
numbers safe. And there are a lot of people who
have tried to open or will open the computer base
of the pump and put a bluetooth skimmer, and so
(23:34):
it'll read the numbers just as if it was reading
it for the for the computer itself. So your credit
card gets slid in there, they'll read the numbers and
it'll keep a card, if you will, of the credit
card numbers. And so then some van will drive by
and it'll blue tooth. It won't even open the machine,
it'll bluetooth down load your credit card number and then
(23:55):
they'll skim those numbers. And it is people don't realize
that those types of crimes there there. They may be small,
they're not thousands of dollars or fifty dollars, but those
fund a lot of organized crimes within the state of
Texas that we're trying to fight. We recently, about four
years ago, created what'll call Financial Crime Center here in Texas,
(24:16):
and what it's does is it aggregates data and monitoring
certain regions because these we find out these crime organizations
they float, well, they'll go up to Dallas and then
they'll leave Dallas and come down to Houston and come
to Houston and go to Austin and Austin, San Antonio.
They'll float from areas gathering these credit cards and sometimes
(24:37):
it's one of those things where you've built they'll only
charge a few hundred dollars or a dollar here, two dollars,
ten dollars, and then before you know it, you don't
notice these charges on your card until it's too late.
And so we're really cracking down. It's been really affected
to have this Financial Crime Center because the prosecutors are
able to monitor, we'll find out where these guys are.
(24:58):
We'll put you know, cameras on them, and we'll be
able to watch them do it because it's very difficult
to catch now, especially with bluetooth.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Look, god, bad guys. You know I was going to
ask you, Chairman. So when you go to a gas
pump now, especially if it's a new we have that
signal on it. You don't have to insert the card anymore.
You can just put it up. There are those any
safer to use versus inserting your card into you know?
Speaker 3 (25:20):
I asked the same question to some of the confure
and I think Apple pay, but he told me Apple
pay was the safest model if you will to use it.
I mean, the key is some of the things you
can do is like I have within my wife and I,
we have a number that will always be in the
price of the gas. So no matter what, we'll stop
at with that number in the price of the gas.
(25:41):
So that people, you know, they know that if that
number is into the price of the gas, then I
didn't pump it. Does that make sense? Yes?
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Oh yes, yeah, like you end on nine, yes, and
so you know that that's yours. Absolutely. And let's quickly
talk about drillers, because I know you're permitting and I'm
not sure if I quite understand how that permit works.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
So we basically our job is that we have what
we call waterwork drillers and coffice stallers and we permit
those licenses. Basically is what we do. In order to drill,
you have to have a license, and we certification. We
certify those licenses and we make sure continue education and
we provide them with that continued education the guidelines, and
so we're going back to it right. Our advisory committee
(26:22):
is job is to any state regulation, any regulatory issue,
any statue needs to be handed down regarding those licenses,
We'll usually go through our advisory Committee and then be
submitted to the Commission, and the Commission will approve it.
You go from there.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
When we return, I want to get on the company
that you actually do get paid. And by the way,
thank you polunteering and being appointed, because I know that
you know some disciplines are not paid. Yours just not paid,
and it's an important job.
Speaker 6 (26:50):
That you do.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
So thank you for your service for the State of Texas.
But when we return, I want to talk about your company,
Patron Partners, because you don't just have one talent and
helping the State of Texas from these bad actors and
making sure all the licensees are being licensed. But also
you have a real talent pertaining to financial investment, and
(27:11):
I want to get into that too, because you have
some very unique ideas. Let's take a quick break. You're
listening to the Energy k t rideo show and we'll
be right back, and we're back. You're listening to the
Energy Mix radio show. My guest today is Chairman Figueroa,
who is with the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation.
Chairman Figueroa, before the break, you told us a lot
(27:33):
about what you do for the state of Texas. So
let me start with that. Patrol Partners, you devise high
net worth clients. But how does energy investment fit into
your portfolio strategy these days? And I want to specifically
drill down you and I had a conversation when I
met you about there's something that's called a great crew
change going on in the energy sector. There's a lot
(27:55):
of people that are retiring. And as I look out,
and these are some of my personal friends, I wonder
if they have such their strategy of you know, when
they leave, if they're working with a large exploration company,
they have shares, they're going to get a part with
a lot of money. And I got any of us
(28:16):
really understand what we probably should be looking at and
thinking about as we're coming into retirement getting a boatload
of money. Then of course you have your pension that's
coming in and or your stock and getting paid. Give
us some advice on how much does energy investment fit
into your portfolio first, and then we'll start drilling down
(28:38):
into some examples.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
So on the energy side of it, it is amazing.
I think that in so many levels, right, I mean,
you think power generation. I think one of the biggest
opportunities that we have right now is distributive power. I
think the grid is the one thing that's never decentralized.
You look at the Internet is decentralized. You looked at
our cell phone to have decentralized now you know, uh
(29:02):
cables decentralized. These these networks that were once very concentrated,
and that's their strength and energy. The power generation has
to find a way to do distributor. I think that's
one of the futures for us. And I know we
talked about small nuclear, we talk about LERG and I
think those are the smart ways and smart place and
for us those investments are really advantaged, especially small nuclear.
(29:23):
I think it's going to be the wave of the
future for so many reasons, and energy as well. So
on on a portfolio basis, we're fully aware of. I
think that you know, people talk about this uh Ai
and the power and what it's going to do. But
the amount of power and energy that's going to take
to create that for everybody is just gonna be substantial.
(29:46):
So we see that as a big deal. And it's
like anything else. You don't want to mind for gold,
you want to sell picks and ax, And I think
the energy market is in the picks and ax business
to support the AI revolution. So in that same lane,
I know for a fact AI is going to change
our industry. It's historically in our industry. You know, you
would come to me and say, Okay, Rick, I'm retiring
(30:07):
from Exxon. I have a few million dollars what I do,
and I put together income growth portfolio for you, and
you know, e f t s and those types of
things that private equity, maybe it's a real estate. We'll
do some gold or commodities and doogle oil whatever. We'll
put that portfolio together and then I'll build your plan. Kim.
I'll say, okay, Kim, here's a plan. We're going to
long term care, is state planning, your kids, your grandkids,
(30:30):
blah blah blah. We'll do all those plannings for you,
and then we'll connect you with the CPA or an
attorney to make sure that you're doing your taxes and
make sure that your state plans. Right, that is all gone.
AI will create that quickly. You could go, Kim, you
can go to AI and tell build me an income
growth portfolio X date BETA with the exposure to these
(30:50):
markets and it could do that for you. Or you
could say, AI create a financial plan. I'm so such
and such a year old, I want you to do this,
this and this. So those industries are those weather advisors
depending on that are going to probably fade away. What
isn't changing is people. People aren't changing, which kind of
connects with your second question, right, is when somebody retires,
(31:12):
what now? And we've kind of for years have bought
into this narrative where it's almost like a bell curve. Well,
people will say, okay, I'm fifty to sixty now on
the backside of the bell curve and they're waiting to
die or basically wait for grandkids or waiting to retirement home.
And what they've never been told is two important things.
(31:32):
One is that they've never had more opportunity in their
lives than they have now. The fifty sixty year old
is retiring has built in an arrow of quiver of
experienced money, contacts, resources they've never had before. They were
so much information that they could go and sincestead of
going to the idea of going from fourth gear to
third gear. Let's go from forward to fifth gear. But
(31:54):
they don't know how to do that. So the second
thing is for them to recalibrate through thinking outside of
what they've known their whole life. So if they've worked
for an old company their whole life, that's all they
ever know, So how to think differently. And I'll give
you an example, and this is a classic example. I
had a client who worked for BP who designed water wells.
I don't know what goes off short platform wells right,
(32:15):
made lots of money, made one point plus seven figures
of money. We managed this portfolio form, we helped him out,
we built it, gave us his retirement. And so about
two weeks into this retirement, his wife walks in and
it was quite funny. She walks in and she was
just furious, and she said, get him out of my house.
And I kind of looked at her, like what do
(32:36):
you mean, get him out of my house? Get him
out of my house, and like I'm like, what are
you talking about? Because he's building a spreadsheet for my
grocery list. Get him out of my house. He's an engineer.
That's all he knows is spreadsheets, right, that's and so
he couldn't figure out how to pour. And we I
went and talked to him. I said, hey, we had
a beer, Like, what do you feel like to do?
Because I know the golf is fishing, but you know,
(32:58):
I want to feel like I want to do something more.
So what he does now is he works at home
Depot and he makes eighteen dollars and fifty cents an hour.
So if you go to home Depot and so I
want to build a doghouse, this guy will actually tell
you how much wood you need, the hinges, the shingles,
he'll design the doghouse for you, which is and he
loves it. And what's so incredible is I've known this
(33:18):
guy for ten years. He never talked to me about
any all short platform that I built. Now he can't
stop talking about these doghouses and these fences and everything
else that he's helping people. And he just finds this
new life in the second half of his life. And
he's exciting because that second half can be ten times
more of a blessing and beneficial to somebody if they
(33:41):
know how to transform their thinking. And so it's hard,
but I think our industry is having to focus a
lot on helping people walk through that transition to bisect
that curve, an inflection point of the curve and create
a new curve. Right, this one curve would be a
successful person. You know that next curve will be a
significant person. And what is so I think our industry
is going to drive more towards the soft tissue issues,
(34:04):
the more behavioral psychology issues, away from the mechanics, because
the mechanics are going to be replaced by AI. If
you have any industry that does very much a very
routine mechanical processes, those things are going to be replaced quickly.
Let me just give you the heads up if you're
in that business, that job is going to be done
by AI quickly. And it's such an important concept that people.
(34:28):
You know, you don't have to be a blacksmith in
a corseless carriage industry, right, you don't have. We just
have to modify those talents to build something that's different
or your passions. And so I see a lot of
people who are retirees that seem to acquiesce into the
into the distance and feel irrelevant or marginalized. And I'm like, no,
(34:49):
let's go from four to fifth gear and awake into
something bigger and especially in the industry, in the old industry.
But and then let's I know that you talked about
there is a gap. There is a forty thirty year
old gap in the energry sector. You know, you have
these sixty plus year olds that are working on a
contract basis because the energy companies can't find anybody replace them.
(35:09):
But you don't have the four year old patrol em
engineer guys. They just, for whatever reason, there seemed to
be a dip and I think it was out of
vogue to be a patroller engineer and the industry industry
about twenty years ago when the all started. But the
demand is going to be high where you have to
find out how to replace that talent.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Absolutely, let's take a quick break. You're listening to the
Energy Mixed radio show.
Speaker 6 (35:31):
We'll be like them.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
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(35:55):
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Speaker 2 (36:12):
And we're back. You're listening to the Energy Mix radio show.
My guest today is Chairman FIGUREO a Texas Commission of
Licensing and Regulation and also the CEO of Patron Partners Chairman.
Before the break, we were talking about being with a
company been and oil and gas doesn't necessarily mean they've
been with the same company, but they've been in the industry.
(36:32):
These are high income earners, highly intelligent people too. They
are getting ready to hit something, hit a place in
their life where they've always known the lay of the land,
and then all of a sudden, their plate dropped into
some place that they have no idea where they are.
They don't know to go left, right, center. They think
(36:54):
they do, because of course these are highly intelligent people.
Maybe they've done some research on their own. I'm sure
they have. They think that they can, you know, look
at their stocks and their retirement and figure out how
to do it. But I see things like people purchasing
homes at the time they're retiring, and if they were
(37:15):
a Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos, I really probably wouldn't
think very much of it. But these are people that
what I've learned is this is not the time to
do this. This is actually, you know, potentially not the
time to do it. I shouldn't say for everybody, but
there's just seems to be the retirement is all over
the place. There doesn't seem to be a path that
(37:38):
you take conservatively. And as an expert in this field,
and seeing this over and over and over again, where
these clients or not these clients, these executives or engineers
are leaving the workforce to go maybe do some consulting
or something. Is that really a good plan? Is that
what you would recommend to a client like yours or
(37:59):
would you recomm and something a little bit more safer
of Look, go get what you want in the job,
but you're going to come into a boatload of money
as you retired. That's catch and it might be better
to look at it in another way, how you're going
to use this or not? Maybe not buying a home, right,
whomen are things like that, we're building a home. So
(38:21):
tell me what would you give somebody books to leaving
who thinks they have a strategy? And do they reap?
Speaker 3 (38:30):
So nature abores vacuum, Okay, And we know that any
person has lived any set of times understands that boredom
seems to attract some of the worst behaviors or habits, right,
And so retirees are faced with this idea, there's a
vacuum in their life. Right, there's a vacuum. So how
(38:51):
do you deal with this vacuum? And it's such an
important concept not to just fill it, right with a
narrative that's been sold to you. I'm now going to retire.
I'm gonna go to a senior living place, or I'm
gonna fill it with stuff and I'm gonna buy stuff
and I'm gonna go acquire all the things I never had, right,
And those concepts.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Are I'm gonna evolve all day every day.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
Exactly well, I'm gonna go fishing. And those concepts fail
in so many levels. But because there's a vacuum. They're
trying to feel that right. And and so there's two
lies that have been told to retirees, right and very subtle.
Number one is I tell them and say, look, you're
gonna die. And that's a fact that when you die,
(39:35):
you get a phone call, I'm gonna scratch your name
off the file. I'm gonna put your wife's name, or
your husband's name, or your kid's name or your grandkid's
name on the file. They're gonna have the money. So
that's a given. That's the truth. It's a hardcore truth.
The question we want to ask ourselves, what do you
want to happen between today and when that day happens.
That's such a it's a profound question, because what do
(39:56):
you really want to happen. The second thing is what
we have is an hour in our offices. The lie
has been about time. There's a Norwegian poet and I'm
going to paraphrase his pomed He said, what a tragedy
that man had to invent the watch. But it had
to be invented to drawing up from a cob noise
or grass growing over our grave. For the watch had
to replace the hourglass. For the hour glass was a
(40:18):
picture perfect indication of a limited amount of time that
we have on this planet. While the watch gives us
this illusion of perpetuity, it's an illusion, right, And so
we understand that fifty year old sixty year olds who
have worked their whole lives, we've done extraordinary amount of
saving and yearning, traveling and around the world and building
(40:41):
their wealth, and now what what is it? And they
feel like they have to have this legitimacy that they
have to consistently carry on. And so let me just
you know, follow this path that's world war. We have
to change that. We have to awaken them to something
bigger than that, because the resources and the talents that
they have are these arrows in their quiver and they
(41:02):
need to figure out how to fire them. And you know,
I talked about the home depot guy. I mean, I
can't tell you how many. And one of the things
that we did with I had a guy who is
a real estate and he's managed real estate for a
long time and he has no heirs, and so I said, well,
what do you you know, what are you going to do?
Your money is I'm gonnaive it to my brother. I'm like, well,
your brother's older than you. It doesn't make sense. It's
your brother. And so he's like, well, I don't know.
(41:24):
I said, well, what do you like to do? Because
I love to real estate? He flips basically apartment complexes
and buys the bill. I said, how would you like
to teach people how to do that? He goes, what
do you mean? I said, well, what if I could
get you some kids from the inner city and you
could teach them how to buy and sell real estate.
You could just educate them on this. And this was
the question he asked me, which was incredible. It's a
(41:46):
multi millionaire. Am I allowed to do that? I said,
of course, you're allowed to do that. You absolutely loved
to do that. So we got these inner city kids
come out and he pays for them, and he says
them on a Saturday and teaches them how to buy.
And these kids are just soaking up this knowledge for
this guy who they've never had anybody tell them on
how to build wealth and in real estate, and he's
(42:06):
educating them and he he loves it. Is so defining
yourself in a different way, figuring out what those arrows
and figuring out how to build those there's such a
big deal, right, and and people lose track of that.
I had a client who you know, I was talking
to them about this. The rick I decided that I'm
gonna give two point five million dollars to my church
(42:28):
when I die. And I looked at him. I go, okay,
he goes what I said. What He goes, you don't
think that's a lot of money. I said, no, it's
not a lot of money. He goes, you don't think
two point five million dollars is a lot of money.
I said, Bill, you're dead. What's two point five million
dollars worth to a dead man? And he goes, huh.
(42:50):
I said, that's like me giving you my socks when
I'm done with them, like here, you know, just throwing
them at it. I said, I could talk to your
wife or your kids about it, because they didn't, but
they didn't have a choice. So don't patch yourself on
the back too much about donating money when you're dead,
when it's not worth anything to you. And then he
got mad and he looks at me. He goes, well,
then how do I give it away when I'm alive
and still live the way I want to live? And
I said, now, we're talking now, that's the question we
(43:13):
should be asking. How do we thrive while we're alive? Right?
How do we not sit there and think to ourselves,
what is it that we're going to give over're dead?
How do we thrive while we're alive? And that's the
question that you have to ask yourself. And you see
it so often, especially in the energy industry, where these
guys have worked twenty years, the same thirty years for
the same company, they have traveled, they have grind out
(43:34):
for so long, right, what they do is they turn
around to get some ten ninety nine corporate consulting gig
and they got the same chair they had, But they
just don't know what to do with themselves, right. And
it's not lack of money, it's lack of understanding of
opportunity and the lack of ability to have somebody walk
with you through this. It's such a powerful force because
(43:55):
one of the smartest people in the world understand what
they don't know. Right. As much as you can engineer
something or build a spreadsheet of something, you know for
a fact that if you have any knowledge of our
wisdom and all, there's so much that you don't know.
And he needs somebody to walk with you through it,
to watch your six and that's where that's where we
see this thing going.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
Absolutely well, Chairman, figure out, that's all the time we
have for this show. I'm glad we left it on
a good note in the way of if you're coming
up for retirement, you should have a second set of
eyes or at least a pal to kind of tell
you think you're on the right path and maybe you're
on the wrong path. And it's kind of that secondary
bunds up or we'll hold on a second kind of
(44:37):
thing that some people probably do need as they're exiting.
And so I want to thank you for being a
guest on today's show. Look forward to having you back
call us whenever you want to come and tell us
about an update on what you're working on. Thank you for.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
Joining me, Thank you Cam, and thank you for in
the fight that you're doing on aeron.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
The Energy Mix radio show is where we explore topics
that affect us all in the oil and gas industry.
Every week week, our host will interview the movers and
shakers in this fast paced industry. You'll hear from industry experts,
elected official and many more.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
On the Energy Mix radio show,
Welcome to the nationally syndicated Energy Mix Radio Show produced
by the Energy Network Media Group. The Energy Mix Radio
Show will give you an inside look at the energy
industry and how it affects you by talking with industry leaders, experts,
and government officials on the Energy Mix Radio Show.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to the Energy Mixed Radio Show, where Texas grit
meets global energy. We bring you the voices shaping our
future from oil fills to boardrooms, with the power to
move markets and minds. I'm your host, Kimbalato, and today
we're turning up the voltage with a guest who knows
how to mix leadership, finance, and Texas pride like no other.
(00:39):
Joining me today is Rick Figueroa, the Chairman of the
Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation and is also the
CEO of Patron Partners. A man whose boots are planted
firmly in both the range lends of Brendam Texas and
the corridors of power appointed by Governor Greg Abbott, Rick
(01:00):
brings a unique blend of financial acumen and public service
to the table, especially when it comes to oil, gas
and the regulatory heartbeat of Texas. He's a trusted voice
in a Hispanic leadership and a fierce advocate for economic empowerment,
and today he's here to talk to us about energy
(01:21):
equity and everything in between. Rick, welcome to your first
time on the Energy Mix radio show.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Great to be here, Kim, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So Rick, before we get started, I want to talk
about your role as the Texas Commissioner of Licensing and Regulation,
specifically drilling down into the energy part. But before we
get started, our listeners would probably love to hear a
little bit of history on you, how you found yourself
coming into this, and maybe a little bit of your
educational background of how this led you to this wonderful
(01:53):
appointment from Greg Abbott from Governor Abbot.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Well, it's been great. Yeah, Grip and Bay City, just
South Texas, Houston and single Mom. I call it the
dmbing story Camp. It's pretty much, you know, Gourbent housing
and you kind of the day labor on a ranch.
And it wasn't much in regards to a Cinderella story
except the fact that my mother basically nagged me to
(02:18):
go to college. So basically I went to college, went
to A and M and got into Grand Accounty and
got grant Master's Atland Economics, and I went on to
work in public accounting for about four years and then
moved on to wealth management. And wealth management one of
my jobs is to chase money, right, that's the premise
behind what we do. And there's a lot of money
(02:39):
in politics. And so I got invited to actually was
Governor Perry at the time, to a lunch with Governor Perry,
and he and I got to chatting about just business
acumen and plying it to governmental operations. Is back in
two thousand and eight, and he asked me if I
joined what it called Texas Judicial Council, which oversees the
back office courts, which was kind of a unique position
(03:03):
because I was the only non lawyer judge. There's twenty
one members chaired by the Chief Justice, seventeen basically judges
and three lawyers in meat and so. But I basically
created what we call a shared solution to the court's operations.
There was two hundred fifty four counties and there's over
seven hundred courts and applying veryous fundamental apar it practices
(03:30):
to how they operate create a lot of efficiency redundancy
so that the courts could back each other up. That
got me a pointed to. Then Governor Abbott took over
and he moved me over to TDLR. TDR is kind
of a little known agency. It's kind of a sleeping giant.
I tell people a government thirty nine licenses, hair addressing, cosmetology, barbers,
(03:50):
water well drillers. She talks to electricians, ac but also
we control now motor fuels. So when you go to
get help your gas, you'll see a sticker that's our sticker,
assume my name on it, certifying you get a pump
a gall of gas. And it was just recently the
last legislative session we've got a lottery of bingo has
been come over to us. So it's it's become a
(04:12):
golden the golden marker of regulating and licensing major vocational
and also processes within the state of Texas. So it's
pretty exciting. It's a lot it's not a paining job,
but it's a very exciting job because the amount of
impact that we make so many people's lives, over a
million licenses that we helped try to get them on board,
(04:35):
get them a job, move them forward, and get them
being productive.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Texas cis Well chairman Figarolla. You know, recently I attended
a summit in Pennsylvania and it was covering AI and
they had a speaker there, Mike Row, which we all know,
and he discussed how we really have to, you know,
try to make these vocational trades, you know, usable again
(05:02):
and how attracted they are, considering that a lot of
jobs that were not really sure which ones will be
replaced by artificial intelligence, but we know for sure that
these vocational traits will not be. And his whole thought
was that we need to do a better job of
helping the young kids of today, the young adults coming
(05:23):
into the workforce, how important those jobs will be in
the future. So, as you're chairman of this, I look
forward to seeing how you plan on moving the mark
and helping them see that these are the jobs that
you don't have to worry about where you be replaced
in AI.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Just want to get your thoughts on that, Kevin. I
can't tell you how critical this is. This is. Let
me give you the scope. I spoke to the governor
probably three years ago. I said, look, Texas has to grow.
We don't need more lawyers. We need ac repair, we
need electricians, we need water, We need vocationalized. And somehow
the narrative back twenty years ago was that if you
(06:00):
weren't smart, your occasional license. And I managed wealth. I
managed three hundred and seventy five million dollars worth of
assets my top twenty clients. So it's a million dollars
minimum to come walk into my office. My top twenty clients,
half of them never went to college. They were just
business owners. The sold their business and they did very well,
several million dollars of benefit. And so we have to
(06:23):
recalibrate how people perceive these vocational licensing and that's kind
of our job. But also so important is the impact
to communities. And I'll take you three steps of the house.
Build thirteen forty two is why I championed which allowed
us to issue probationary licenses to electricians in ac repair,
so people would have their license. Say, a licensee would
(06:43):
get in a bar fight and he would go to
jail and then he come out and he said, I
want my license back because we would suspend his license. Now,
if I'm not comfortable sending that licensee to my house
with my wife, why am I going to send him
to your house? Right? But I know that the recidivism
rate for him goes up triple if I don't have
a job for him, and he's going to cost the
(07:04):
state money. So what we did is we're able to
put a probationary license where he could work in a
institution like a building or new construction, but he couldn't
go into private residence, which was a great is stepping
stone to get him back to where he needed to be.
And so that's a huge it's an ROLI a fifty
thousand dollars liable liability being in prison versus a fifty
(07:25):
thousand dollars asset right on the lark. Another program that
we're working on right now is instituting testing and licensing
within junior colleges so that when you get your associate degree,
you also get your license. You don't have to wait
and go to an off site testing. So we're partnering
with our junior colleges. One initiative that's kind of near
and dear to my heart is my wife's on the
(07:46):
board chairs the board of Arrow and Arrow. Harvy processes
ten to fifteen of the adoption foster kids in state
Texas and so about setting one hundred of these kids
age out of the system a year. Suicide rate for
these kids it's about thirty percent and drug addictions thirty percent,
So sixty percent minimum are going to be dead or
(08:07):
on drugs. Now, that's crazy, right, these are kids. So
what we're doing is we're trying to figure out how
to get to them because once they reach age about
fourteen or fifteen, they're not going to get adopt The
odds of adoption has gone down dramatically, right, So we
have about three to four years to prep them so
that when they do age out, they're able to have
a job that can sustain themselves in their livelihood and
(08:28):
they can be a productive citizen versus somebody's just kind
of marginalized. So it's an exciting opportunity in so many ways,
either with adoptions or with ability to incarceration to get
people who are incarcerating and reduce their were citizen rate.
But the overall, my overall goal is to create a
pipeline of talent so that the state can grow. And
(08:50):
these are fundamental jobs. They're not going to go awr.
AI is not going to fix your ac AI it's
going to fix your electricity, right, They're not. AI is
not going to drill the water well and so these
are now that it's going to be more technical to
locations as we grow, but it won't change those needs
for those people.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Absolutely. I'm so glad to hear you say that, because
those are sometimes the forgotten people, and they really shouldn't be.
They just need Maybe they made a wrong turn somewhere
and hopefully they're able to make the turn back into society.
And it sounds like you've got your pulse on what
is needed here in the state of Texas. Let's let's
set chera. Let's talk about the Texas Commission of Licensing
(09:30):
and Regulation that you are overseeing. How does your role
intersect with oil and gas, the industry and workforce and
safety standards. I'm not sure if our listeners really understand
how much you're doing in that area as well.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Well. You can drill all without having electrical and you
can't do it, you know, and make sure you're going
to need those types of location and we're doing water wheeldrolls.
But for me, the oil industry is such an integral
part because a lot of the I call the ancillary services.
Might I be drilling the well, but the answery services
around that are such a productive part of that execution task.
(10:09):
So for for us, I think when you look at
energy and how energy is such a critical part of
the say to Texas, our licensees are collaborating constantly with
energy companies and figuring out how to do things better.
Like I said, one of the initiatives that we talked
about was when we go out and build these licensees opportunities.
(10:31):
We've learned that there's certain areas in Texas that need
more support, right like the Rio Grand Valley or certain
to Shell are there's certain table like I said, building
communities around those. I know that there's probably I would
say ten to fifteen projects right now that we're looking at,
just trying to figure out how to be more collaborated
(10:54):
with the oil industry, how to help support what they
need to make sure elkfacial energy gas. How can we
what are the need, what are the ancillary services, and
how do we give those vocational licenses to them so
that they can help and perform what they need to perform. So, yeah,
our stickers on the pump, So every gallon of gas
that gets pumped in the state Texas, we have to
certify that one the skimmers which are a big problem
(11:17):
within the pumps and those are skimming your credit cards.
The theft is a huge issue that we're trying to
really mitigate down but also making sure that the gallon
gas is high quality and it is what you expect
to get absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
When we come back from break, I'd like to have
you kind of just point out the different there's a
couple of different areas and oil and gas that you regulate,
not just at the pump and energy, you're also into
water wells. So let's take a quick break. When we return,
we'll get back on the topic of what specifically your
commission is doing pertaining to regulate the energy sector. You're
(11:50):
listening to the Energy Mixed radio show and we'll be
right back.
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Speaker 3 (13:01):
And we're back.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
You're listening to the Energy Mixed radio show. My guest
today is Charin Vigoroa. He is with the Texas Commission
of Licensing and Regulation Charing. Before the break, you were
telling us a little bit about some of what the
Commission Licensing and Regulation does. Can we drill down a
little bit more and talk to me a little bit
about what you're doing pertaining to wells in the oil
(13:23):
and gas sector and how you regulate that as.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
To well Right, So, the training and the and the
idea behind the water well drills is to make sure
the certification. I mean, it's such a first of all,
you've and I know that water is such a valuable commodity.
It's so many of them, and I think it's kind
of one of those things that people don't appreciate until
they don't have it right, and it's just such a
(13:47):
It's one of those things that already expects the faster
it comes on the water comes, but they also don't
appreciate the amount of water that is needed to drill
well right, and to the water associated with manufacturing and
and and and also industrial plants. I mean, it's just
it's tremendous not and you look at the challenges associated
with how many sticks are going on to the urban
(14:07):
sprawl in the ground, and like I live in Brenham
and so they're one of the biggest challenges is that
we're having all these small plot farms five acre bomber.
They're drilling their own stick and they're building their own
pond and they're filling that pond with a reservoir and
what does that look like? So that that doesn't follow
our purview, but we want to do is make sure
(14:28):
the water well drillers are aware and they're giving us information.
We have an advisory a council that basically feeds us
at the Commission information on how water wells are happening,
what's going on, what are they seeing, do they see
plumes of those types of things. So we're trying to
keep tab as much as possible. When you manage thirty
nine licenses, you can't I can't be an expert in
nutrition and ac and waterwere drillers and cosmetology. So were
(14:51):
depending a lot on advisory commission or advisory panels that
are underneath us, and they basically feed us up and
so we try to get the pulse. And right now,
one of the challenges, as you're talking about, there's so
many stakes what they call stakes in the ground, and
these reservoirs are going to be they're starting to be threatened.
But these individual landowners that are drilling out and so
we're trying to figure out how to keep one those
in atlantowners have the right to drill in their land,
(15:13):
and but how do we regulate that, how do we
how do we make sure that we're not putting ourselves
in a bind. I know one of the things that
you and I talked about is the brackish water along
the Gulf coast right the ability to mine that. South
Texas Public Utilis has done a great job. Those wells
are only one hundred feet deep if that, and but
(15:34):
they're able to desalinate that brackish war so quickly and
access that water for Brownsville, and they do a great job.
We need to be able to There's a huge reservoir
stretches all the way from Brownsville all the way up
to a Mantagorda if it are further, and it's billions and
gallons of water that we could access for the coast.
So we're just got to be more innovative, more efficient
on how to turn that water, that brackish water into
(15:57):
powdable water and making sure that we're building something for
the long term. When I'm cutting ourselves short because we're
just trying to drastically react to something proactively managing the
whole water work process, well.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
You know, I mean, looking at how many people are
relocating into Texas as a whole, it's just mind boggling.
And how do we continue with construction energy when we
are looking at some of the scarcest water we've seen
you in a long time, and so it's good to
see that you're looking at it and realizing we've got
(16:32):
to find some solutions. And it's nice to see that
even of course our Texas legislators and our governor understands that.
In your opinion, Chairman, what are some of the biggest
regulatory challenges that Texas spaces in balancing energy expansion and
environmental responsibility.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
That's a great question. I'll tell you from our vocational
I don't have the expertise in regards to the environmental
side of it. I'll give you f my expertise in
regards to vocational right. Number one is talent. The biggest
complaint I hear from business owners is we need talent.
We need people willing to work one to do this right,
(17:08):
and they're just that doesn't seem to be an ability
for them to find the right talent. And I think
that we need to find people who are well educated
who are going to that workforce, talent that people are
going to attract with business owners are going to be
able to say, hey, I can I can do a
great plug. I'll give you another example and Brenham Brenham's
(17:31):
its not it's not far from Useton. It's in between
use Austin and Houston. So I have a couple of
manufacturers of our clients, they've had to aggregate themselves to
have some sort of attraction because the pool of talent
from there is not strong enough to service their manufacturing facilities, right,
And so we got to really recruit and pull people
(17:53):
in into and give them the ability to understand the
wealth that they can create by having these locational licenses
and the opportunity that's there in front of them. Again,
I said, my clients that are multi millionaires in nevery
one's college. That story is not told very often, right,
and what that path looks like and the independence associated
with that. It's exciting when you talk to a young
(18:15):
high school graduating and tell them, hey, look, you know, look,
let me tell you the success stories and so and
so and so and so on how this has worked,
and they just like wow, they just so. I think.
You know, you talked about Mike row earlier about you know,
speaking to him. He's such a great champion of these
these likes and these vocational opportunities that are there. We
have to get out of the way, though, on the
(18:36):
regulatory agency side, we need to make sure and get
out of the way. We need to make sure we
scrutinize and eliminate those that are trying to do harm
to the vocation. But one of the things I tell
these you know, whether it's cosmetology, whether in which human
traffic or human traffic in the massage therapy in the street,
or drug trafficking in the Barbara Barbara College metology, you
(18:57):
have to own your vocation. I can't change those industries.
Those vocational licenses have to take ownership and say we're
not we're not going to allow our vocation to be
labeled a certain way. We're going to change the label.
We're going to change conversation. And so self monitoring of
these vocations are such a big part of it. And
because I can't hire enough enforcers to monitor a million licenses,
(19:19):
it just doesn't work right. You just so and you don't.
And again, as a consumer, you want to make sure
that if that vocational license he has that license, that
there's some aptitude and there's some legitimacy to what they're doing.
And you want to make sure that you're getting what
you're paying for. For the service, So we have to
get out of the way, validate the license quickly impossible,
making sure the quality of vocational train is there so
(19:43):
that person can executes the highest level, and then recruit, recruit, recruit, recruit.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Absolutely well, Chairman, figure out when we get back from break,
I want to try to explain to the listeners and
even myself. Quite frankly, it's somewhat complicated when we look
at energy specifically because other agency's license energy, and then
you guys also come in and kind of regulate certain
areas as well, so you don't necessarily approve anybody you're
(20:09):
kind of monitoring or want to get into that side
as well of how are you monitoring and what are
you monitoring? But let's take a quick break. You're listening
to the Energy Mixed radio show and we'll be right back.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
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Speaker 3 (21:22):
And we're back.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
You're listening to the Energy Mixed radio show. My guest
today is Chairman Figueroa, who is been appointed by Governor
Abbot to cover the Commission of Licensing and Regulations. Chairman,
before the break, you told us that you all basically
monitor and our overseers a thirty nine different license that's
a lot of changing years of different completely different types
(21:45):
of business sets, from barbers to oil or at the
gas pumps, and so I wanted to ask you since
Governor Abbot appointed you to help shape licensing policy, how
do you see the impact on energy related trades and
profession in Texas? And specifically, can you go into what
you know explain a little bit more. If you're monitoring drillers,
(22:08):
what does that kind of look like? And if you
say gas pumps that we see your sticker, what does
that mean to the text and that's listening. What are
you looking for pertaining to gas? Is it something where
they're price gouging or is it you mentioned skimmers? How
does that play into what you guys are specifically looking
for and regulating.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
So on a consumer basis. Right, when you look at
the pump, there's so many things that are going involved. Right,
there is the actual certification that that pump is working accurately, right,
that it is actually pumping and down at a gas. Right,
that's fundamental. The second is if there is a quality
issue within the fuel, Right, if there's water or whatever,
(22:52):
those suspections would come from us as well. Somebody is
trying to dilute their gas, whatever the case may be. Also,
there are a lot of what we call bladder bandits
sometimes will come in and use farm diesel, Right, or
red diesel, and we have to make sure that they're
using the propertiesel. But the biggest one for us is
(23:14):
what I would call skimmers. And skimmers are basically when
you slide your your card into that pump, right the
one of the biggest challenges is how to keep those
numbers safe. And there are a lot of people who
have tried to open or will open the computer base
of the pump and put a bluetooth skimmer, and so
(23:34):
it'll read the numbers just as if it was reading
it for the for the computer itself. So your credit
card gets slid in there, they'll read the numbers and
it'll keep a card, if you will, of the credit
card numbers. And so then some van will drive by
and it'll blue tooth. It won't even open the machine,
it'll bluetooth down load your credit card number and then
(23:55):
they'll skim those numbers. And it is people don't realize
that those types of crimes there there. They may be small,
they're not thousands of dollars or fifty dollars, but those
fund a lot of organized crimes within the state of
Texas that we're trying to fight. We recently, about four
years ago, created what'll call Financial Crime Center here in Texas,
(24:16):
and what it's does is it aggregates data and monitoring
certain regions because these we find out these crime organizations
they float, well, they'll go up to Dallas and then
they'll leave Dallas and come down to Houston and come
to Houston and go to Austin and Austin, San Antonio.
They'll float from areas gathering these credit cards and sometimes
(24:37):
it's one of those things where you've built they'll only
charge a few hundred dollars or a dollar here, two dollars,
ten dollars, and then before you know it, you don't
notice these charges on your card until it's too late.
And so we're really cracking down. It's been really affected
to have this Financial Crime Center because the prosecutors are
able to monitor, we'll find out where these guys are.
(24:58):
We'll put you know, cameras on them, and we'll be
able to watch them do it because it's very difficult
to catch now, especially with bluetooth.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Look, god, bad guys. You know I was going to
ask you, Chairman. So when you go to a gas
pump now, especially if it's a new we have that
signal on it. You don't have to insert the card anymore.
You can just put it up. There are those any
safer to use versus inserting your card into you know?
Speaker 3 (25:20):
I asked the same question to some of the confure
and I think Apple pay, but he told me Apple
pay was the safest model if you will to use it.
I mean, the key is some of the things you
can do is like I have within my wife and I,
we have a number that will always be in the
price of the gas. So no matter what, we'll stop
at with that number in the price of the gas.
(25:41):
So that people, you know, they know that if that
number is into the price of the gas, then I
didn't pump it. Does that make sense? Yes?
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Oh yes, yeah, like you end on nine, yes, and
so you know that that's yours. Absolutely. And let's quickly
talk about drillers, because I know you're permitting and I'm
not sure if I quite understand how that permit works.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
So we basically our job is that we have what
we call waterwork drillers and coffice stallers and we permit
those licenses. Basically is what we do. In order to drill,
you have to have a license, and we certification. We
certify those licenses and we make sure continue education and
we provide them with that continued education the guidelines, and
so we're going back to it right. Our advisory committee
(26:22):
is job is to any state regulation, any regulatory issue,
any statue needs to be handed down regarding those licenses,
We'll usually go through our advisory Committee and then be
submitted to the Commission, and the Commission will approve it.
You go from there.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
When we return, I want to get on the company
that you actually do get paid. And by the way,
thank you polunteering and being appointed, because I know that
you know some disciplines are not paid. Yours just not paid,
and it's an important job.
Speaker 6 (26:50):
That you do.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
So thank you for your service for the State of Texas.
But when we return, I want to talk about your company,
Patron Partners, because you don't just have one talent and
helping the State of Texas from these bad actors and
making sure all the licensees are being licensed. But also
you have a real talent pertaining to financial investment, and
(27:11):
I want to get into that too, because you have
some very unique ideas. Let's take a quick break. You're
listening to the Energy k t rideo show and we'll
be right back, and we're back. You're listening to the
Energy Mix radio show. My guest today is Chairman Figueroa,
who is with the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation.
Chairman Figueroa, before the break, you told us a lot
(27:33):
about what you do for the state of Texas. So
let me start with that. Patrol Partners, you devise high
net worth clients. But how does energy investment fit into
your portfolio strategy these days? And I want to specifically
drill down you and I had a conversation when I
met you about there's something that's called a great crew
change going on in the energy sector. There's a lot
(27:55):
of people that are retiring. And as I look out,
and these are some of my personal friends, I wonder
if they have such their strategy of you know, when
they leave, if they're working with a large exploration company,
they have shares, they're going to get a part with
a lot of money. And I got any of us
(28:16):
really understand what we probably should be looking at and
thinking about as we're coming into retirement getting a boatload
of money. Then of course you have your pension that's
coming in and or your stock and getting paid. Give
us some advice on how much does energy investment fit
into your portfolio first, and then we'll start drilling down
(28:38):
into some examples.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
So on the energy side of it, it is amazing.
I think that in so many levels, right, I mean,
you think power generation. I think one of the biggest
opportunities that we have right now is distributive power. I
think the grid is the one thing that's never decentralized.
You look at the Internet is decentralized. You looked at
our cell phone to have decentralized now you know, uh
(29:02):
cables decentralized. These these networks that were once very concentrated,
and that's their strength and energy. The power generation has
to find a way to do distributor. I think that's
one of the futures for us. And I know we
talked about small nuclear, we talk about LERG and I
think those are the smart ways and smart place and
for us those investments are really advantaged, especially small nuclear.
(29:23):
I think it's going to be the wave of the
future for so many reasons, and energy as well. So
on on a portfolio basis, we're fully aware of. I
think that you know, people talk about this uh Ai
and the power and what it's going to do. But
the amount of power and energy that's going to take
to create that for everybody is just gonna be substantial.
(29:46):
So we see that as a big deal. And it's
like anything else. You don't want to mind for gold,
you want to sell picks and ax, And I think
the energy market is in the picks and ax business
to support the AI revolution. So in that same lane,
I know for a fact AI is going to change
our industry. It's historically in our industry. You know, you
would come to me and say, Okay, Rick, I'm retiring
(30:07):
from Exxon. I have a few million dollars what I do,
and I put together income growth portfolio for you, and
you know, e f t s and those types of
things that private equity, maybe it's a real estate. We'll
do some gold or commodities and doogle oil whatever. We'll
put that portfolio together and then I'll build your plan. Kim.
I'll say, okay, Kim, here's a plan. We're going to
long term care, is state planning, your kids, your grandkids,
(30:30):
blah blah blah. We'll do all those plannings for you,
and then we'll connect you with the CPA or an
attorney to make sure that you're doing your taxes and
make sure that your state plans. Right, that is all gone.
AI will create that quickly. You could go, Kim, you
can go to AI and tell build me an income
growth portfolio X date BETA with the exposure to these
(30:50):
markets and it could do that for you. Or you
could say, AI create a financial plan. I'm so such
and such a year old, I want you to do this,
this and this. So those industries are those weather advisors
depending on that are going to probably fade away. What
isn't changing is people. People aren't changing, which kind of
connects with your second question, right, is when somebody retires,
(31:12):
what now? And we've kind of for years have bought
into this narrative where it's almost like a bell curve. Well,
people will say, okay, I'm fifty to sixty now on
the backside of the bell curve and they're waiting to
die or basically wait for grandkids or waiting to retirement home.
And what they've never been told is two important things.
(31:32):
One is that they've never had more opportunity in their
lives than they have now. The fifty sixty year old
is retiring has built in an arrow of quiver of
experienced money, contacts, resources they've never had before. They were
so much information that they could go and sincestead of
going to the idea of going from fourth gear to
third gear. Let's go from forward to fifth gear. But
(31:54):
they don't know how to do that. So the second
thing is for them to recalibrate through thinking outside of
what they've known their whole life. So if they've worked
for an old company their whole life, that's all they
ever know, So how to think differently. And I'll give
you an example, and this is a classic example. I
had a client who worked for BP who designed water wells.
I don't know what goes off short platform wells right,
(32:15):
made lots of money, made one point plus seven figures
of money. We managed this portfolio form, we helped him out,
we built it, gave us his retirement. And so about
two weeks into this retirement, his wife walks in and
it was quite funny. She walks in and she was
just furious, and she said, get him out of my house.
And I kind of looked at her, like what do
(32:36):
you mean, get him out of my house? Get him
out of my house, and like I'm like, what are
you talking about? Because he's building a spreadsheet for my
grocery list. Get him out of my house. He's an engineer.
That's all he knows is spreadsheets, right, that's and so
he couldn't figure out how to pour. And we I
went and talked to him. I said, hey, we had
a beer, Like, what do you feel like to do?
Because I know the golf is fishing, but you know,
(32:58):
I want to feel like I want to do something more.
So what he does now is he works at home
Depot and he makes eighteen dollars and fifty cents an hour.
So if you go to home Depot and so I
want to build a doghouse, this guy will actually tell
you how much wood you need, the hinges, the shingles,
he'll design the doghouse for you, which is and he
loves it. And what's so incredible is I've known this
(33:18):
guy for ten years. He never talked to me about
any all short platform that I built. Now he can't
stop talking about these doghouses and these fences and everything
else that he's helping people. And he just finds this
new life in the second half of his life. And
he's exciting because that second half can be ten times
more of a blessing and beneficial to somebody if they
(33:41):
know how to transform their thinking. And so it's hard,
but I think our industry is having to focus a
lot on helping people walk through that transition to bisect
that curve, an inflection point of the curve and create
a new curve. Right, this one curve would be a
successful person. You know that next curve will be a
significant person. And what is so I think our industry
is going to drive more towards the soft tissue issues,
(34:04):
the more behavioral psychology issues, away from the mechanics, because
the mechanics are going to be replaced by AI. If
you have any industry that does very much a very
routine mechanical processes, those things are going to be replaced quickly.
Let me just give you the heads up if you're
in that business, that job is going to be done
by AI quickly. And it's such an important concept that people.
(34:28):
You know, you don't have to be a blacksmith in
a corseless carriage industry, right, you don't have. We just
have to modify those talents to build something that's different
or your passions. And so I see a lot of
people who are retirees that seem to acquiesce into the
into the distance and feel irrelevant or marginalized. And I'm like, no,
(34:49):
let's go from four to fifth gear and awake into
something bigger and especially in the industry, in the old industry.
But and then let's I know that you talked about
there is a gap. There is a forty thirty year
old gap in the energry sector. You know, you have
these sixty plus year olds that are working on a
contract basis because the energy companies can't find anybody replace them.
(35:09):
But you don't have the four year old patrol em
engineer guys. They just, for whatever reason, there seemed to
be a dip and I think it was out of
vogue to be a patroller engineer and the industry industry
about twenty years ago when the all started. But the
demand is going to be high where you have to
find out how to replace that talent.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Absolutely, let's take a quick break. You're listening to the
Energy Mixed radio show.
Speaker 6 (35:31):
We'll be like them.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
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Speaker 2 (36:12):
And we're back. You're listening to the Energy Mix radio show.
My guest today is Chairman FIGUREO a Texas Commission of
Licensing and Regulation and also the CEO of Patron Partners Chairman.
Before the break, we were talking about being with a
company been and oil and gas doesn't necessarily mean they've
been with the same company, but they've been in the industry.
(36:32):
These are high income earners, highly intelligent people too. They
are getting ready to hit something, hit a place in
their life where they've always known the lay of the land,
and then all of a sudden, their plate dropped into
some place that they have no idea where they are.
They don't know to go left, right, center. They think
(36:54):
they do, because of course these are highly intelligent people.
Maybe they've done some research on their own. I'm sure
they have. They think that they can, you know, look
at their stocks and their retirement and figure out how
to do it. But I see things like people purchasing
homes at the time they're retiring, and if they were
(37:15):
a Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos, I really probably wouldn't
think very much of it. But these are people that
what I've learned is this is not the time to
do this. This is actually, you know, potentially not the
time to do it. I shouldn't say for everybody, but
there's just seems to be the retirement is all over
the place. There doesn't seem to be a path that
(37:38):
you take conservatively. And as an expert in this field,
and seeing this over and over and over again, where
these clients or not these clients, these executives or engineers
are leaving the workforce to go maybe do some consulting
or something. Is that really a good plan? Is that
what you would recommend to a client like yours or
(37:59):
would you recomm and something a little bit more safer
of Look, go get what you want in the job,
but you're going to come into a boatload of money
as you retired. That's catch and it might be better
to look at it in another way, how you're going
to use this or not? Maybe not buying a home, right,
whomen are things like that, we're building a home. So
(38:21):
tell me what would you give somebody books to leaving
who thinks they have a strategy? And do they reap?
Speaker 3 (38:30):
So nature abores vacuum, Okay, And we know that any
person has lived any set of times understands that boredom
seems to attract some of the worst behaviors or habits, right,
And so retirees are faced with this idea, there's a
vacuum in their life. Right, there's a vacuum. So how
(38:51):
do you deal with this vacuum? And it's such an
important concept not to just fill it, right with a
narrative that's been sold to you. I'm now going to retire.
I'm gonna go to a senior living place, or I'm
gonna fill it with stuff and I'm gonna buy stuff
and I'm gonna go acquire all the things I never had, right,
And those concepts.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Are I'm gonna evolve all day every day.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
Exactly well, I'm gonna go fishing. And those concepts fail
in so many levels. But because there's a vacuum. They're
trying to feel that right. And and so there's two
lies that have been told to retirees, right and very subtle.
Number one is I tell them and say, look, you're
gonna die. And that's a fact that when you die,
(39:35):
you get a phone call, I'm gonna scratch your name
off the file. I'm gonna put your wife's name, or
your husband's name, or your kid's name or your grandkid's
name on the file. They're gonna have the money. So
that's a given. That's the truth. It's a hardcore truth.
The question we want to ask ourselves, what do you
want to happen between today and when that day happens.
That's such a it's a profound question, because what do
(39:56):
you really want to happen. The second thing is what
we have is an hour in our offices. The lie
has been about time. There's a Norwegian poet and I'm
going to paraphrase his pomed He said, what a tragedy
that man had to invent the watch. But it had
to be invented to drawing up from a cob noise
or grass growing over our grave. For the watch had
to replace the hourglass. For the hour glass was a
(40:18):
picture perfect indication of a limited amount of time that
we have on this planet. While the watch gives us
this illusion of perpetuity, it's an illusion, right, And so
we understand that fifty year old sixty year olds who
have worked their whole lives, we've done extraordinary amount of
saving and yearning, traveling and around the world and building
(40:41):
their wealth, and now what what is it? And they
feel like they have to have this legitimacy that they
have to consistently carry on. And so let me just
you know, follow this path that's world war. We have
to change that. We have to awaken them to something
bigger than that, because the resources and the talents that
they have are these arrows in their quiver and they
(41:02):
need to figure out how to fire them. And you know,
I talked about the home depot guy. I mean, I
can't tell you how many. And one of the things
that we did with I had a guy who is
a real estate and he's managed real estate for a
long time and he has no heirs, and so I said, well,
what do you you know, what are you going to do?
Your money is I'm gonnaive it to my brother. I'm like, well,
your brother's older than you. It doesn't make sense. It's
your brother. And so he's like, well, I don't know.
(41:24):
I said, well, what do you like to do? Because
I love to real estate? He flips basically apartment complexes
and buys the bill. I said, how would you like
to teach people how to do that? He goes, what
do you mean? I said, well, what if I could
get you some kids from the inner city and you
could teach them how to buy and sell real estate.
You could just educate them on this. And this was
the question he asked me, which was incredible. It's a
(41:46):
multi millionaire. Am I allowed to do that? I said,
of course, you're allowed to do that. You absolutely loved
to do that. So we got these inner city kids
come out and he pays for them, and he says
them on a Saturday and teaches them how to buy.
And these kids are just soaking up this knowledge for
this guy who they've never had anybody tell them on
how to build wealth and in real estate, and he's
(42:06):
educating them and he he loves it. Is so defining
yourself in a different way, figuring out what those arrows
and figuring out how to build those there's such a
big deal, right, and and people lose track of that.
I had a client who you know, I was talking
to them about this. The rick I decided that I'm
gonna give two point five million dollars to my church
(42:28):
when I die. And I looked at him. I go, okay,
he goes what I said. What He goes, you don't
think that's a lot of money. I said, no, it's
not a lot of money. He goes, you don't think
two point five million dollars is a lot of money.
I said, Bill, you're dead. What's two point five million
dollars worth to a dead man? And he goes, huh.
(42:50):
I said, that's like me giving you my socks when
I'm done with them, like here, you know, just throwing
them at it. I said, I could talk to your
wife or your kids about it, because they didn't, but
they didn't have a choice. So don't patch yourself on
the back too much about donating money when you're dead,
when it's not worth anything to you. And then he
got mad and he looks at me. He goes, well,
then how do I give it away when I'm alive
and still live the way I want to live? And
I said, now, we're talking now, that's the question we
(43:13):
should be asking. How do we thrive while we're alive? Right?
How do we not sit there and think to ourselves,
what is it that we're going to give over're dead?
How do we thrive while we're alive? And that's the
question that you have to ask yourself. And you see
it so often, especially in the energy industry, where these
guys have worked twenty years, the same thirty years for
the same company, they have traveled, they have grind out
(43:34):
for so long, right, what they do is they turn
around to get some ten ninety nine corporate consulting gig
and they got the same chair they had, But they
just don't know what to do with themselves, right. And
it's not lack of money, it's lack of understanding of
opportunity and the lack of ability to have somebody walk
with you through this. It's such a powerful force because
(43:55):
one of the smartest people in the world understand what
they don't know. Right. As much as you can engineer
something or build a spreadsheet of something, you know for
a fact that if you have any knowledge of our
wisdom and all, there's so much that you don't know.
And he needs somebody to walk with you through it,
to watch your six and that's where that's where we
see this thing going.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
Absolutely well, Chairman, figure out, that's all the time we
have for this show. I'm glad we left it on
a good note in the way of if you're coming
up for retirement, you should have a second set of
eyes or at least a pal to kind of tell
you think you're on the right path and maybe you're
on the wrong path. And it's kind of that secondary
bunds up or we'll hold on a second kind of
(44:37):
thing that some people probably do need as they're exiting.
And so I want to thank you for being a
guest on today's show. Look forward to having you back
call us whenever you want to come and tell us
about an update on what you're working on. Thank you for.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
Joining me, Thank you Cam, and thank you for in
the fight that you're doing on aeron.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
The Energy Mix radio show is where we explore topics
that affect us all in the oil and gas industry.
Every week week, our host will interview the movers and
shakers in this fast paced industry. You'll hear from industry experts,
elected official and many more.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
On the Energy Mix radio show,
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