Riley P. Bechtel

Riley Peart Bechtel CBE (born March 25, 1952)<ref name="rb" /> is an American billionaire heir and businessman. He was the chairman of the Bechtel Corporation until April 2017.<ref name=AAAS /><ref name="bechtel">Bechtel biography Template:Webarchive</ref> As of July 2021, his estimated net worth is US$2.7 billion.

Early life and education

He is the great-grandson of Warren A. Bechtel, the company's founder. His parents were Elizabeth Hogan and Stephen Bechtel Jr., who was the former chairman and CEO of the company.<ref>Beta Theta Pi Template:Webarchive</ref>

He attended The Thacher School, a boarding school.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He received a bachelor's degree in political science and psychology from the University of California, Davis, and a JD/MBA from Stanford University in 1977.<ref name="bechtel" /> He was admitted to the State Bar of California in November 1979 and joined the American Bar Association.<ref name="bechtel" />

Career

He worked for the law firm of Thelen, Marrin, Johnson & Bridges.<ref name="bechtel"/> He joined Bechtel full-time in 1981 and was elected president and chief operating officer in March 1989.<ref name="bechtel"/> He became CEO in June 1990.<ref name="bechtel"/> In January 1996, he also became chairman of Bechtel.<ref name="bechtel"/>

He sits on the board of directors of the international council of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (since 1995), the Fremont Group (owned by Bechtel Corporation), the Fremont Group (which in turn runs Trinity Ventures, LP), Fremont Investors, Inc. (owned by Bechtel Corporation), and Sequoia Ventures, Inc. (limited partner of Bechtel Corporation).<ref name="bechtel"/> He was a board member of Theranos.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He is a former member of the Trilateral Commission, the American Society of Corporate Executives, The Business Council, the Business Roundtable, and the National Petroleum Council.<ref name="bechtel"/> He sits on the corporate council of the Conservation Fund and the Board of Trustees of the Ocean Exploration Trust.<ref name="bechtel"/> He also sits on the governing board of the Indian School of Business, Stanford Graduate School of Business advisory council, Stanford Law School Dean's advisory council, and UC Davis' board of visitors.<ref name="bechtel"/> He was appointed to the President's Export Council by George W. Bush. In 1998, he and his father were presented with the Honor Award from the National Building Museum for their company's contributions to America's built environment.<ref>National Building Museum</ref> He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001.<ref name=AAAS>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="bechtel"/> He is also an Honorary Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and an Honorary Lifetime member of the American Society of Safety Engineers.<ref name="bechtel"/>

Wealth

According to Forbes, his estimated net worth is US$3 billion, as of October 2021.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Template:BLP sources He resides in California with his wife, Susan. He is a member of the Augusta National Golf Club as well as the all-male Bohemian Club in San Francisco and attends its annual encampment, the Bohemian Grove. He is consistently ranked in the top 200 richest people in the US and the top 500 richest people in the world by Forbes magazine.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In February 2014, Bechtel announced that, after 25 years, he was stepping down as CEO of Bechtel Corporation because of health reasons associated with Parkinson's disease.<ref>Engineering News-Record</ref>