KBH Energy Center Symposium draws record crowd, features industry leaders

KBH Energy Center Symposium Draws Record Crowd, Features Industry Leaders

More than 600 students, industry professionals and others heard from leading voices in the energy sector on Sept. 12 during the 2025 Energy Symposium at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Energy Center.

This year’s symposium broke prior attendance records for the event and featured conversations with leaders from across the industry, including CEOs, investors, lawyers and journalists. The array of panel discussions reflected the comprehensive view of the energy industry that students receive through the KBH Energy Center, which is a collaboration among The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business, School of Law, Cockrell School of Engineering, and Jackson School of Geosciences.

“Energy is the future,” said former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison as she began the symposium. “It’s the future of our economy and our national security.”

ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Darren Woods headlined the symposium with a one-on-one discussion with KBH Energy Center Executive Director and former ExxonMobil Vice President and General Counsel Jack Balagia. Woods explained that most energy will continue to come from oil and natural gas well into the future. Still, the combination of new energy sources and decarbonizing the combustion of oil and gas will lead to significant reductions in carbon emissions, he predicted.

“I think people often underestimate the total size of the global energy system around the world and the dominant role that oil and natural gas play in that energy system,” Woods said. “While you see a lot of growth in new energy sources, they’re starting from a very small base in a very enormous system.”

He added, “You can decarbonize existing systems.”

At a dinner on the night before the symposium, Woods received the KBH Energy Center’s Award for Outstanding Excellence in the Energy Industry. He was presented the award by Hutchison and UT President Jim Davis.

Throughout the daylong symposium, speakers from various corners of the energy sector described abundant opportunities for students who will soon enter the workforce. The opportunities include creating the infrastructure needed to power the massive data centers needed to support artificial intelligence. The symposium also highlighted opportunities within nuclear energy. UT Austin and three other universities are currently involved in the construction of a molten salt research reactor in Abilene. It is the first research reactor project that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved in Texas in more than 30 years.

“I’m of the view that we really have never seen anything this profound,” said Jim Breyer, the founder and CEO of Breyer Capital. “This is the most glorious time I can think of to be a student. I tell students and postdocs there’s never been a time quite like this.”

Others described how constant change in the energy industry creates new opportunities for students such as those who are involved with the KBH Energy Center.

“We are increasingly becoming a technology company in terms of how we deal with our customers,” said Jason Ryan, executive vice president of regulatory services and government affairs for CenterPoint Energy.

Multiple conversations also looked at the historic and ongoing connection between energy and national security and the competition among countries for advantages in energy innovation.

“One of the things I worry about is the potential for scientific and technical surprise,” said Heather Wilson, a former member of Congress and secretary of the Air Force who now serves as president of The University of Texas at El Paso. “We have been so dominant scientifically, technically since the end of the Second World War that we don’t think about this now. We have 18 intelligence agencies. Not a single one of them focuses on the potential for scientific or technical surprise.”

The symposium, now in its 11th year, is one of the signature events of the KBH Energy Center, which also provides students with numerous opportunities to visit the state’s major energy centers and hear directly from leaders in the industry. The 2026 Energy Symposium will be held on Friday, Sept. 11.